Destiny's Son, A Great Tale of Adventure!
by VeralicProductions
Summary: Young Bard D. Samekawa is a man with one thing on his mind: Adventure! Seeking out the ultimate adventure and fighting the strongest enemies is the only thing he aims for in life, and his journey will take him everywhere he wants to go. Mainly OCs, Epic
1. A Prelude to Destiny

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the character's in this story of property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Prologue

With the death of the Pirate King, Gold Roger, the world had entered the great Age of Piracy. Bands of devious bandits and ambitious adventurers set out into the horizon, speeding ever closer to the greatest ocean in the world, the Grand Line! This is the story of a young man with infinite ambition, and indomitable spirit and strength to change the world and find the ultimate treasure, One Piece. Rather, that is _a_ story. This story begins shortly after the death of The Pirate King, and almost immediately after the Buster Call at Ohara.

* * *

"Dreadful news," the village mayor said with a somber tone, "simply dreadful."

"What is it sir?" inquired a young woman with a child in her arms.

"Our good friend, Balon, has died in the West Blue on the island of Ohara."

There was a sudden silence that fell over the crown at the village, followed quickly by fear, and then a part of sickness. Several men and women began to cry, while some fainted altogether. Balon was the village's hero of epic stature. They even had a statue in front of the mayor's house. Balon was rumored to have defeated a Sea King unhanded and ate the whole thing himself. He left for Ohara after hearing the rumors of the research being done there, and was unfortunately caught up in the terrible Buster Call.

After a while, the sorrow had marginally subsided and people were starting to speak among each other about him and his accomplishments. 'How great he was' and 'How daring he was'. Then all eyes turned towards the young woman and her child, who had slept through the screams and sobs of the villagers.

"Why are we all crying so much? Is this the way Sir Balon would want us to remember him, choking on our tears? He was always happy, even when there was no reason to smile. He brought us so much joy, shouldn't we remember him as he was, and not as he is?"

"She's right," they began saying.

The mayor decided to chime back in on the meeting.

"I propose that we hold a party in his honor, to thank him for what he did for this village. After which, a customary funeral service shall be held and precided by his only family here."

The young woman from before looked at the child in her arms and remarked, "I don't think he can speak quite yet."

* * *

"Here comes another wave! Bust it to pieces!" A young man's voice shouted. In the shallows of an island not far from the Red Line stood a man, nearly seven feet tall with short golden hair, arms crossed and glaring at the oncoming wave.

"Here I go! BARD…"

This part of the West Blue lies dangerously close to the Reverse Mountain, famed entrance of the Grand Line, and is infamous for the massive waves it gets around the winter seasons. The young man in the water revved his arms as if to punch the wave. Then he did.

"BLASTAAAAAAH!!!!!"

The tidal wave exploded and dissolved around him into a salty mist around him. Bard D. Samekawa was his name, son of the legendary Balon D. Samekawa.

"YEEE-AAAAAHHHHH!! HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT, STUPID OCEAN!!!"

"Well, he's excited," said the man from the shore. Donalcii had been a friend of Bard's since they were children, and always loved watching Bard act ridiculous and increadible at once. Both young men were nearly 18, Bard being closest.

A young woman, sewing some fabric a bit further from the shore, inquired "Are we done yet, Don? I'm getting bored of watching Bard punch water." This is Don's sister of 17, but younger than Don by almost a year, Araly.

"How can you be bored, Ara!? This is the ultimate display of manly power!!" Bard yelled as he posed in the shallows. "Surly you're impressed by this!" He hadn't noticed, in his manly dancing, that another monstrous wave had culminated behind him. Before he could turn around or even utter his surprise, the wave came crashing down on top of him.

Don winced at the sight, while Araly just laughed and laughed. The rushing water came in and planted Bard legs-up in the sand.

"You alright, buddy?" Don yelled into the sand.

Bard pushed himself up with his arms, into the air, and safely back onto the ground before spitting out a chunk of sand and uttered "Stupid Ocean"

"Bard!" called a woman in the distance, "It's time to come in!"

"Well, I guess that's that. I'll see you two tomorrow. G'night!" Bard ran off in the direction of his house and waved to the two as he left.

Don waved back and headed of in his own direction home, with Araly behind him.

_Tomorrow's a big day_ Bard thought to himself, _tomorrow I'm gonna finally set out for the ultimate training journey, on the Grand Line!_ Bard increased his speed to a sprint and arrived home in no time at all.


	2. Trip of a Lifetime

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the character's in this story of property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"Bard, where were you? Playing on that island again?" Bard's mother had a worried look on her face, mainly because her son ate more than a single person could normally cook in a day and she spent several hours preparing dinner.

"I wasn't playing! I was training. There's a difference." Bard and his mother lived on the top of a hill on the island where the waves never reached. It'd normally take half a day of hiking to get from there to the beach, but Bard knew several shortcuts going up and down the path, mainly by jumping around until he gets to the top.

The feast was consumed momentarily by Bard, having eaten enough for several families, and his mother ate nearly as much.

"So," his mother started as she was putting away the dishes, "tomorrow's the big day, right?"

Bard smiled and nodded. Tomorrow was the day he would go with the Navy to join an exclusive organization that had personally recognized his talents and strength after he won a Navy-sponsored tournament.

"You'd better be careful, and watch out for pirates while you're at it."

"If any pirates try to take me down, I'll just throw their ship into the sky!"

Bard's mother smirked at her son's narrow mindedness, reminiscing on how his father thought just the same way.

* * *

The day had come. The statue-like government agents lined on either side of Bard as he walked down the dock and onto the ship. He had no good-byes to give, since he knew he'd be coming back soon enough. It took a lot to prove that he was ready, namely beating up several high-ranking Marine officers in the tournament, which was no easy task for him. He kept his face as straight and serious as he could until he got on the boat. He spun on his heel and smiled as far as his mouth could stretch, waved his arms over his head and yelled out "I'M GOIN' TO THE GRAND LIIIINE!!!!!!" 

The crowd that had gathered there broke out in cheer, spouting cries of 'Good luck!' and 'Don't come back until you're a man, Bard!' It was time to depart for the ocean of adventure.

"That'll be enough of that, young man," A man said from behind Bard. The captain of his own ship, Captain Mars Young of the Marines stood just an inch or two shorter than Bard, but his muscles made Bard's naturally skinny structure look like an under-developed tree. "We have quite a journey ahead of us. This ship isn't equipped to handle the quick route through the Calm Belt, so we'll have to enter through the Reverse Mountain." Bard's face lit up. After hearing nothing but stories on how amazing the Reverse Mountain was, he would finally get to travel on it. Up it. Whatever.

"Sir," voiced out a random marine, "we seem to have a slight problem…"

* * *

"Well, now I'll have to find something else to do in my downtime, right Araly?" 

No response.

"Araly?"

* * *

"Araly!?" Bard was as shocked as the marine personnel that had surrounded the girl that stealthily snuck aboard the ship during the march of respect. She was huddled over a garment that she had been working on for several days, and seemed to be in pain. 

"How did that girl get here?" The captain demanded of the men.

"We're sorry, sir. Our guard must have dropped for just a moment when…" Araly interjected.

"You were both asleep, so I just walked around for a while. I was in here when you decided to weigh anchor and my sea-sickness kicked in."

The captain's anger had shifted to the marines, whom he had trusted to guard the ship, and decided they needed punishment.

A few moments, bruises and explanations later, Araly stood up waveringly, and walked toward Bard. "This is for you" She handed him a beautifully decorated and embroidered coat with a brilliant dragon design on the back.

"WOAH! Thanks, Araly! This is great, I love it!...Hey, are you gonna be alright?"

Araly fell to her knees and started shaking slightly. "I'll be fine, I just can't move around very much."

"Well young lady, seeing as you're here, you may as well get some rest. It'll take us an hour or so before we can get to Reverse Mountain, so we'll prepare a dinghy for you to get back with." The captain's face warmed up, without any discontentment to be found. He was talking to Araly like she was his daughter, which garnered a response from the marines and government agents that he had been so harshly treating during the trip.

"Sir! We have a problem!" A marine sounded off from the deck.

As the crew stepped out, all but Araly and Bard who was with her, they got drenched in water. It was a freak storm that hit them as they entered the final stretch towards Reverse Mountain.

"What the hell, ensign! How did you not see this coming!?" the captain vehemently yelled at the distraught navigator.

It was a bit late now. The entrance to the Reverse Mountain was in plain sight. The current was far too strong, even for a marine vessel to steer out of, and all that awaited them if they tried was a rather cruel fate of being crushed under the intense rapids at either side of the canal.

The crew was sent into a panic. Running around, trying to secure themselves onto something solid. The captain just stood there and watched as the mist cleared and the clouds passed them all by, until he could see the top. Then the ship shot upwards.

* * *

Araly could have been worse. She already threw up, not on Bard thankfully, and was now just hoping that the rest of her breakfast stayed down. Bard was a bit antsy, as he wanted to see the Reverse Mountain more than anything. He poked his head out onto the deck and was able to catch a sight more wonderful than anything else. There was nothing on the horizon but blue and clouds. He felt weightless for a second before gravity returned with a vengeance and slammed him onto the fine, wooden deck. Now a rushing feeling filled him. With all the power he could muster, Bard climbed up onto the sail and steadied himself by holding on, watching the water rush past them all as the ship sped down the mountain and into the Grand Line. Bard nearly cried before realizing that he had missed the whole damn thing. 

"The Grand Line…wait. Where'd it go!?" Bard bellowed.

"What're you talking about, it's right…what the he-"

**POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU**

The roar coming from the exit of the reverse mountain nearly knocked Bard off his perch. What did send him colliding with the deck was staring at the mountain that had bellowed at them.


	3. A Shaky Awakening

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the character's in this story of property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The crew of the feeble Marine ship barely had enough time to cover their ears before the impact sent them end-over-end into the Grand Line. Bard stared from underwater at the massive thing that destroyed the boat, but couldn't make it out exactly until he saw the white of its eye. An eye. _THAT MOUNTAIN HAS EYES!!!!!!_

Captain Mars recovered just in time to jump to a nearby lighthouse and evaluate the situation. _Most of the crew is either dead or dying, I'll bet. There's still hope for the kid, though._ With this thought, Mars jumped straight into the water, ignoring the fact that a Giant Whale was roaring deafeningly. He spotted the girl that had stowed-away first and rushed to rescue her.

Bard was swimming frantically trying to find his way up, as well as gathering all the crew-men he saw still moving. Finally, the Captain surfaces and climbed the cliff to the lighthouses' base. Araly vomited from fear, rather than seasickness.

"Are you all right, girl?" the good captain asked. For a gruff and rather dower looking man, there was a heavy amount of concern in his voice.

"Yes," Araly finally managed to cough out, "I'm fine."

Moments later, Bard exploded out of the water with at least ten men clinging to him for survival. Some passed out from the fear, other's from head rush, and some few were just far too tired to deal with anymore chaos for the day.

"Looks like I beat you, Captain! I got more out of the water than you!" Bard said, posing all the while. He was a bit to enthusiastic for his standing. Araly, being a foot or so shorter than Bard, couldn't very well hit him in the head when he was stupid, so she settled on his stomach. Even if Bard was the strongest man in the world (a proclamation he made daily), Araly could still stun him.

"Well," mused the Captain intelligently, "that'll show him, eh?" The attempt to get on Araly's good side had won, and she calmed down for a second. After that second, she passed out from lack of food to orally expel in fear.

"Now what, Captain?" Bard asked with concern. "We just got here and we're already stranded without a ship." Captain Mars mused at this, as he was just as clueless as Bard was on this topic. _The only thing to do is call for help from a nearby Marine base, but that could take us days. Worse yet, we have no supplies to hold us off until the ship would get here. _He looked out into the open waters, where debris and bodies were floating like algae on a still pond. _Fishing may be out of the question with that whale_.

No sooner had he formed that thought when Bard flared him a curious question from behind. Curious in two ways: one was the fact that he got behind Mars in almost no time and there was a wet, dripping sound coming from him. "Is the cook still alive?" was the question. Mars looked at where Bard was sitting previously and only saw his coat. Behind was Bard, carrying two massive shark-like spotted fish under each arm. Bard had a triumphant and rather smug grin stretching across his face.

* * *

Araly slept well up until she smelled the food being cooked, and burnt. As an avid consumer of anything edible, Araly's body sprang up almost instantly. Her weary face turned to a face of astonishment and anger, after glancing at the burned pieces of seafood a few feet away from her. 

"Oh! You're up!" called out Bard. "Neither of us could cook and no one else can cook, so me and Captain Mars just threw some fish I caught into a fire made from driftwood. This is yours!" he said as he pointed to the blackened pile of fish meat. Araly could stomach nearly any food without grave consequence, as was example when she accidentally ate as poisonous piece of fruit when she was young. She said it tasted like tree bark and dismissed the otherwise lethal food as junk. Seeing food prepared…rather mutilated in such a way sent her into a berserk.

Captain Young was used to eating slightly ill-prepared food, as he was a Marine captain that stayed at sea almost every day. This stems from the aversion to paperwork he developed when he first became a Captain. He couldn't fathom what Araly was screeching about. 

"Why didn't you wake me up! You know you can't cook for your life! ARE YOU STUPID OR DO YOU ENJOY MAKING ME ANGRY! **HOW DO YOU PLAN TO FIX THIS, BAAAARD!!!**"

In Bard's fearful defense, that could have scared just about anyone. Araly, with eyes still blazing with fiery wrath and demonic scowl still affixed to her face had paralyzed Bard into a coma of sorts. His eyes went white and his jaw dropped nearly off its hinges at the thought of incorrectly retaliating. All he could manage to squeak out was a feeble and wheezy, "Aaah."

"There's no problem, girl. We still have plenty of fish yet to cook," the Captain politely interrupted. Araly's face returned to a quizzical look. "Would you please help us out?" He then asked softly. Bard's face was only marginally filled with fear now, and Araly couldn't help but smile.

"Okay!" She shot to her feet and rushed over to the neatly laid out sections of fish, eyeing them down to see which one would make the most appropriate fillet. Bard crawled over the Mars, still a bit startled and expecting an attack. All was going rather well, as Araly carefully cooked the hunks of meat over the fire and passed them out, giving Bard the smallest portions and the Captain the biggest. The sun had started to set when the first of the rescued Marines came to.

The night was peaceful. The Marines gathered up some rations that were left for them by Araly and waited for morning. Most of the Marines began discussing things amongst themselves.

"It's all that girl's fault!"

"It's a death wish to bring a woman on a ship."

"She came here because of that new kid!"

"We should get rid of the both and be done with the matter."

"We'll all just say that those three decided to rebel when we wanted to send for help and knocked us out."

"Three? Even the Captain?"

"Yeah. That softhearted free-loader has to go…"

* * *

The Morning was not peaceful. 


	4. The First Step

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the character's in this story of property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Captain Mars awoke to a rather unsettling sight. The Marines were gathered around Araly like a pack of hungry wolves. Bard was still sleeping a distance away, and it seemed that he wouldn't be waking up very soon. Mars assessed the situation and approached it as casually as possible, by picking up and throwing one of the devious Marines into the water and moving protectively in front of Araly.

"What the hell are you men doing!?" he shouted at the men. A few of them drew back a step, but one took a step forward to retaliate.

"Be silent, you pansy! All you've done is hassle us during this trip, and it's this girl's fault that we're stranded like this! Now you're defending her!?" The infuriated Marine lifted up his gun from his side and pressed it on the Captain's head.

"I've had enough," the Marine lowed at the captain with finger on the trigger. "It's time for a change in command, 'Captain'" There was a loud cracking sound as if lightning had struck nearby. Before he could retaliate any further, his eyes rolled backwards and he fell to the ground with a thud.

Bard was standing over him with a clenched fist and a tired, seething scowl on his face. He raised the fist up to his eye and rubbed it wearily. He turned to the frightened group of Marines with an ice-cold gaze and mumbled

"Who woke me up?"

The Marines recoiled backwards instinctively. Any Marine can tell you the terrors of waking up a superior officer and the punishments associated with it. Those that could move pointed at the unconscious misfortunate that Bard had already punished. Despite that fact, however, Bard still decided that waking him up was a crime of unacceptable wrath. Bard bent down, picked the up the inanimate lump of soldier and heaved him full force into the water. By strange coincidence, Bard had chucked him almost dead center into a school of ferocious, shark-like spotted fish.

The sudden shock and splash woke the Marine up just in time to live out his final moments of moderate physical health. Those moments, to the other Marines, were very loud and terror filled. This, in turn, awoke Araly, who had assumed that pirates were attacking based on the dream she had been stirred from. She screamed loud enough for the patrolling Navy ship nearby to hear her.

* * *

"Now that we're all calmed down," Mars said commandingly, after he and Bard had beaten all the panic out of the remaining Marines, "would someone like to enlighten me as to why you were attempting to jump the young girl?"

One of the Marines motioned to speak, but was cut off by the Captain.

"I TRAINED YOU WHELPS BETTER THAN THAT! HOW could such a thought even pass through your minds!? Did you think you could get away with it!? HUH!?!?"

Araly just sat, looking slightly confused and verily angered by what she had heard. Bard was standing close to her, in an attempt to look protective, with his arms crossed and staring menacingly at the cowering pile.

"Wait," Araly began wearily, "they tried to do what?"

Mars turned around, still glaring at the Marines at an angle, and answered her.

"I woke up just in time to defend your honor against these undisciplined beats. You should be so lucky to be in my care."

Araly looked stunned. _Was this true? Why would those guys try that? Are they really that evil, or…no. There has to be a different explanation. If Captain Mars is telling the truth, then they wouldn't try to kill him for just that purpose._ "Bard, do you know what-"

Bard had learned at an early age that people can have completely boring conversations that could go on just long enough for him to take a nap and go unnoticed. To that effect, he had developed a sort of triggered narcolepsy that kicks in whenever he doesn't move or talk for several minutes. He was peacefully snoring with his arms crossed and standing straight up. Araly facefaulted, rebounded and smashed him in the gut.

Bard got over the pain in time to counter Araly's glare with a wincing, shaking stare of his own.

"What was that for?"

"Did those guys really try to take advantage of me?" Araly yelled as she waved her finger accusingly at the group of Marines. Bard looked over at the poor guys and grinned innocently, as if he hadn't thrown the leader of the attempted coup straight to his death several minutes beforehand. Then he looked back at Araly and gave her an intelligent shoulder shrug. He plopped over in pain from getting hit especially hard in the same spot as before and whined.

Araly walked over beside Captain Mars and crossed her arms to look menacing to the Marines. Her attempt was interrupted after she spotted an incoming vessel from the distance. Even if it was just barely within eyeshot, she could still make out the Marine symbol on the main sail.

* * *

Captain Mars noticed Araly's shift in attention, but his eyes weren't quite as good as hers. He peered in the same direction that Araly was looking, but could only see the outline of a ship in the distance. His first instinct was to wait for a signal to tell him if the ship was friendly or hostile. Araly ran towards the coast and waved her arms to try and catch the ships attention. This worried the Captain, mainly because it could be a pirate ship and she could be giving them the whereabouts of a half-dead bundle of Marines.

Mars rushed towards Araly and pulled her to the ground, to which Araly screamed as she thought she was under attack. Bard was stirred awake from his nap just in time to hear her scream. He focused himself and caught a glimpse of someone holding Araly down through his sleepy eyes. He rushed over to the scene and threw the attacker straight up into the air, catching Araly just before her head hit the ground.

"You okay, Araly?" Bard's eyes, at least for a moment, were completely focused on hers. Araly was momentarily breathless, but smacked Bard hard across the face as soon as she regained her composure. She shoved Bard off and tried to spot Captain Mars, who then came crashing abruptly down on Bard's head.

"Don't misunderstand, boy," Mars said while upside-down and still pushing Bard's head into the ground, "I was trying to _prevent_ catastrophe, not cause it." Bards was confused, but nobody knew since his face was embedded in dirt and rock. He shot himself up into a sitting position, which threw Mars to his feet.

"Really? I thought you were a Marine trying to take advantage of Araly again."

"Rest assured," Mars answered back, "I have no ill intentions against either of you. I, however, cannot quell all rebellions that pass my way."

"OH SHUT UP, DAMMIT!" A staggered and furious voice sounded from behind them. Apparently, the Marine that Bard threw survived the shark attack intact. He crawled out of the water and staggered onto dry land. Most of his body seemed to be barely hanging on.

"We weren't trying to do anything but kill her! It's all her fault that we're in this dammed situation!" The battered Marine scuttled closer to Araly, who backed away behind Bard, still sitting.

"And you, newbie," the Marine said gruffly while addressing Bard, "If not for you no one would have to be killing anyone today!" With that, the Marine hastily picked up a gun on the ground and aimed at Bard's head. Then a cannon was fired.

* * *

The rescue ship had arrived just in time to stop the Marine from killing an innocent and made Mars look like a fool to himself.

"Captain Mars", one of the soldiers announced over the Den Den Loudspeaker, "do you need any further assistance?"

"No," yelled Captain Mars in response, "We've got the situation under control for now."

Mars stood up, arms crossed, and turned to grin at Araly and Bard, both of which were now standing and rather shocked that the Marine hadn't been blown to bits and pieces by the cannon fire. He wasn't conscious at all, but not dead either.

"So," Mars said finally, "are you two ready to set sail?"

Araly looked more surprised than Bard, mainly because Bard ignored the number in Mars' question and was grinning madly.

"Oh, yeah!" Bard said, never breaking his stance. Araly just stared at him and glared for a while, but eventually she went back to peace. Bard and Araly walked in tandem up the gangplank and onto the ship. Both of them were given temporary uniforms in the form of Marine-issue caps.

_Have I just been drafted into the Marines!?_ Thought the ever-maddened Araly. When the ship started moving again she lost her balance and clung to Bard with all her strength. She looked up at him in an attempt to catch his glance, but he never looked at her. He just kept on smiling, and just seemed happy to be leaving.

_Finally!_ Bard thought with a seemingly ever-present grin, not even blinking at the setting sun in the distance. _My adventure will really start now!_


	5. Day One, Buster Brawl!

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the character's in this story of property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The first few days of voyage with the Marines were okay. Bard and Araly were mostly doing grunt work, Araly excluded being that she was a girl and got easily seasick if she wasn't lying down. Eventually, Mars took advantage of her sedentary stasis and had her do all his catch-up paperwork. Once he showed her how to write his name, she could replicate it like a machine on all the orders he had to fill. 

Bard was in charge of weighing anchor, setting sails, moving cannons; anything that would otherwise require five men of ordinary strength, and he did it all with a smile. His favorite part of the trip was meal time, right before which was fishing time for him (and only him, no thanks to Mars' story of Bard's aquatic speed). A nice warm meal after a good swim is always a good thing, after all.

After four days, the ship arrived at a small Navy base that occupied the northern side of a summer island. The opposite shore had a port town that was a veritable breeding ground for outlaws and criminals. The time it usually took for an average Marine to report to a supposed crime in time was less than one minute.

"Listen the Hell up, wimps!" Captain Mars announced over a PA system that shook the entire base, "We have a new recruit joining us today from the West Blue! He's already seen and effectively dealt with more trouble than the entire lot of you whelps are likely to see within a year! BE NICE TO HIM!" The Den Den loudspeaker clicked off.

Bard stood nervously in the doorway to the courtyard. All eyes seemed to be set angrily on him. His uniform was a loaner from the Captain, as that was the only size that could be found on the base that fit him. Bard uneasily raised his hand up to greet his fellow Marines. They turned their backs to him and went about their business.

Bard stepped warily and cautiously through the court to the main building. The main building of the complex was easily noticeable, acting as a primary scouting position for guards to spot pirates and other miscreants from the top of the tower. There were even several cannons stationed just in case. This was also the major bureaucratic center of the base, where all the books and papers were. Needless to say, Bard wasn't here to see Mars.

* * *

"How're things going, Araly?" Bard said sheepishly from the doorway of Captain Mars' office. Araly had been filling forms and requests for several hours. The dry land she had recently come into contact with gave her a second wind, and she had been working since. 

"It's going pretty well, except my wrists feel like they're on fire. What about you, Bard?"

Bard sat in a chair on one side of the room.

"Not really. I don't think anyone likes me that much. No one has said 'hello' or 'welcome aboard' or even 'ahoy'. I thought for sure Marines said 'ahoy'. I'm mostly just waiting for something to happen."

The Loudspeaker crackled and squealed on.

"Attention, all personnel! Pirates have been spotted on the opposite shore. Please take necessary caution and deploy a team immediately to arrest them. Thank you." The loudspeaker crackled off. Bard had already jumped out the window to avoid the stairs and jumped towards the south shore with joy.

* * *

A grizzled and lanky man stepped up onto a rock to renounce his presence among his men, and yelled "Alright, men! The Marine's base is just north of here! What are we gonna do!?" 

A resounding chorus answered back, "Kill them all!"

"And why are we gonna kill them all!?"

"Because they're Navy scum!"

"That's right! I've taught you well!"

The variously dressed and armed band of pirates gave out a cacophonous roar that seemed to go on forever. Intermixed within the battle cry were degrading remarks about the marines and how bad they'd die.

The captain of these rough and tumble bandits was dressed in a feathered, purple coat and high-style pants with a gun at his waist. His face didn't seem to help with his overall look, being the kind of face that looks like it had been hammered repeatedly with a rock by angry monkeys. Scars, bruises, missing teeth, and slicked back hair that ends in a bun.

"Nothing good ever comes out of those sea dogs," he began again with even more verve, "except good targets for practice! We are the Buster Pirates! No one can stop us!"

"IS THAT SO!"

The entire horde turned around at once to see a soldier in an opened shirt standing in a tree, leaning against a branch. He raised a finger and tipped his hat up over his eyes, than grinned an enthusiastic grin.

* * *

_Dramatic entrance successful,_ Bard casually thought to himself, still grinning like and idiot. _Now to intimidate them a little further._

He jumped into the air from the tree, did several flips in mid-air, then spun around to face the pirates before landing several meters away from them. The tree was punctured and he was on the other side of the horde.

_I may have over done it a smidge…_

The pirates stared at him with anticipation and caution. Sure he was a navy dog, but he looked tough for one. Bard raised his hands and braced his legs, readying himself for the first fool to charge him. He didn't wait long, as the four of the pirates blindly charged at him brandishing swords. Bard focused himself.

With one swift, terrible movement, Bard slammed the pirates in their faces so hard that they all flew back end-over-end and landed face down in the dirt several meters from him. To those watching, they didn't see or even hear the blows being landed, it was just a blur that took a fraction of a second. The pirates were starting to get the idea that they may be in trouble. This time, nine rushed him.

By the time the first wave of marines arrived they were self-declared as unneeded reinforcements. Bard had defeated nearly every pirate among them, except for the captain and the first mate, who stood opposite Bard with a menacing glare.

* * *

This was the only pirate present that didn't look like a pushover, which made Bard think that he was the captain instead and the guy that was yelling just got way to into the moment. This Pirate had an object wrapped around his back with a stained and patched brown cloth that went from his shoulder past his waist. 

His hair was short, spiked and black as his eyes. On his belt were two holsters that held what looked like guns, but they seemed to be holsters for daggers rather than guns. His hunter-green vest exposed most of his midsection, which had several scars, and his pants were tied with a rope around each ankle.

They stared each other down with arms crossed across their respective chests, while the marines and still conscious pirates (one or two) looked on with awe. The cowering captain had worked his way a safe distance from the barbaric Marine, and took shelter behind a rock on the shore.

"That's right," the ugly man yelled from his protective bunker, "you're in trouble now, you government dog! Do you know who that man is?" He pointed to his first mate for effect. "He is my most feared warrior, feared in the South Blue and deadly in a fight! Do you know his name!?"

Bard was just barely awake, so he decided to start the fight himself. He dashed forward and shoulder-tackled the still unguarded man. A shoulder to the gut is painful enough, but Bard was traveling in a white and blue blur that no one watching could track. The unfortunate receiver of the attack was launched backwards in and through a tree.

He got up, spat on the ground, and reached for a gun. Bard didn't want to give his opponent an opportunity to attack, so he grabbed the tree as it fell in a bear-grip and swung with all his force, heaving it well into the distance. Bard was a terrible shot when he had to throw something, and the tree sailed over the calm waves of the ocean. No one heard a splash.

Bard looked off in the distance where the tree had gone with indifference, then reverted his stare back to his opponent, who stood mouth agape and eyes nearly popping out.

* * *

Bard resumed his offensive by once again rushing shoulder first at the stranger. This time he was ready. The man rolled out of Bard's way and let him crash into solid rock; rather, through solid rock for a meter. After regaining his composure, Bard stepped out from the rubble and faced his opponent, with two guns drawn out and facing Bard. Something was peculiar about these guns, however. 

"**YOU IGNORANT PUNK! HOW DARE YOU IGNORE ME!**" At this point, everybody present but the pirate captain was far to focused on the fight at hand to remember the pirate captain. Despite this, he began again from where he left off. "His name is Rezland 'The Gun-Blade'! He's a famed pistol duelist prodigy from the South Blue who uses custom-crafted guns that double as swords and never finished a duel without leaving his opponents with hundreds of stab wounds! Do you realize the danger you're in now? You're fighting a-" He wanted to say more, but the full force of eight Marines tackling him from different directions.

"Nice to meet you," Bard announced to his newly named adversary.

"I'm Bard. Bard D. Samekawa, legendary Marine in the making" Bard took his trademark pose; he put his left leg forward, pointing at the enemy, his right leg straight back, and flexed his left forearm parallel to his leg with his right above his head and parallel to the ground.

Rezland twirled his gun-blades and aimed them up, on either side of his head. Then he smirked a devious smirk, opening his mouth just enough to bare one fang-like tooth.


	6. Day One, Flying High

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the character's in this story of property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Captain Mars was stirred from his nap by a nervous Marine who had informed him of the situation occurring on the south shore. His response was a mixture of surprise and excitement. Mars really wanted to see what Bard was capable of, and this was a perfect chance. He jumped off of the ship he was napping on and raced towards the beach. 

Meanwhile, the battle raged on.

* * *

Bard's initial strategy was to blindly rush forward and crush his opponent with one powerful blow after another. From his stance, he kicked back his forward leg and flew forward, then punched forward with the right arm at the right time. So far, he had succeeded in blowing away a good portion of the beach front into rubble and dust. 

_If he wouldn't move around so much, this would be easy. Damn, now I need a strategy._

Bard was never a thinking fighter, he just fought on instinct. Right now, his instincts were telling him that he couldn't hit a mountain at this rate. Bard attempted to reevaluate his situation, but was stopped dead by a horrible pain in his leg.

Rezland had apparently had enough of dodging for his life and shot Bard's leg out of rage while he had the chance. He was more shocked than anything else when he noticed that the bullet hadn't even phased Bard.

_This guy's some kind monster! Doesn't he know how to feel pain!? I'm gonna hafta switch to the big guns._ Rezland reached for the object strapped to his back, but was stopped when he heard a resounding statement from his enemy.

"WHO SHOT MY LEG!!!?"

This blunt question swept over the surrounding area like a wave of gravity, forcing every thinking man's face to the ground in an instant. The first to recover, Rezland, had ironically been closest to the source of the wave and resounded back with a comment of his own.

"WHAT THE HELL KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT!!!"

"Ah", Bard perked himself to his opponent's voice, "was it you?" His face got slightly more angry, but not menacingly so. He posed his charge-style pose.

"If it was you, then you better get ready! This is an attack that won't fail."

Rezland wasn't expecting him to be serious, so he had to gather himself as quickly as possible and prepare to dodge again. His attack wouldn't fail either.

_A shot to the leg, he can ignore. But a shot to the head, even if he is a monster, he won't survive it!_

Bard charged, but didn't miss. Instead of swinging his arm he grabbed Rezland's shoulders and lined his left foot up next to Rezland's right. He raised his right leg almost parallel to the ground and readied to kick. Rezland was stunned that he couldn't even see the motion until it was to late.

* * *

Mars arrived just in time to miss the fight, but not to late to gauge Bard's strength. Bard's last attack was an ultimate finisher if there ever was one. A lunging knee-thrust at point-blank to the opponent's stomach. But of course, this was Bard, and Bard never seemed to leave anything without a bit of personal flair on it. While he was working on the ship he was always showing off; carrying cannons under his arms, catching two nights worth of food by swimming and eating three during dinner, lowering the sails by jumping up and grabbing them from the top of the mast, etc. Mars wasn't as surprised as everyone else to see Bard just barely visible above him.

* * *

_I may have overdone it…again._

Bard was safely floating over the island with his knee plunged in Rezland's stomach. Rezland was of course, unconscious, and completely unaware of just how badly his insides were beaten at this point. His pain was more obvious to the man whose blood he had spit up on.

The span of the island was visible in its entirety from this height. Bard looked down and saw that he had cleared the walk from the base to the beach and was currently sailing straight over the base. This peaked his interest, as he didn't know if the man whose stomach he was currently puncturing could swim. Then the bullet wound came back to him in the form of a wave of pain from the bullet dislodging itself.

Rezland awoke to a horrific sight, and a sharp pain on the spot where Bard had hammered him awake. Then a question came from Bard as he felt them both start to lose weight.

"Hey. Can you swim?" Bard said in all possible bluntness as he pointed down to clear, blue water. Rezland stared at the sea for a few seconds before blinking his eyes twice. Then he screamed a wide mouthed scream of terror as he death-gripped Bard for dear life. Surely, he must have been thinking, this guy can fly as well!

Bard wasn't exactly enthusiastic about a guy who was trying to kill him hugging him like this, so he kicked him. An interesting note about Bard is his flexibility, which is exactly how his boot met the back of Rezland's head like it did. After 'persuading' Rezland to loosen himself, Bard grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him back into awareness.

"Calm down, man! We'll be all right as long as we land in the water! If you can't swim just hold onto me!"

Rezland calmed down, but only because he was mad. Apparently, the concept of hitting the water from this high up at a decent enough speed that would shatter every bone they both had never crossed Bard's mind. This was probably true, as Bard always loved diving into the ocean from cliffs as a child and never once got hurt.

* * *

"Have you spotted them yet!?" Mars yelled at a lookout on top of the tower at the base. 

"No, not…wait. I see them! They're together and falling!" the lookout responded with urgency.

Mars grabbed the Den Den Loudspeaker and started barking orders into it.

"Attention! We need a rescue vessel out half a' kilo to pick up Bard and the pirate! GET A MOVE ON!" With that he slammed the loudspeaker microphone into the receiver, sending a steady wave of crackling feedback throughout the base. This blast of noise woke Araly with a start. She had decided not to watch Bard fight because she knew she would be a distraction for him, and she was dead tired from staying up signing things for so long.

She didn't need to hear the announcement to know Bard had done something regrettable, however, mainly because Mars charged into his office to wake her and tell her exactly what happened. After a very, very brief explanation of "COME ON!", he grabbed her arm and rushed out in a blur.

Araly, like Bard, had triggered narcolepsy, although hers was a bit more extreme. She was more than used to being dragged around under arm or by the hand to see something amazing and incredible, and since it was usually very early in the morning, it developed itself quickly.

Mars was unaware of this problem, and quite shaken that she was asleep when they arrived at the top of the tower. He attempted to waken her gently, with a light tap on the head. When she opened her eyes, her vision became partially magnified due to Mars putting a telescope in front of her eyes. She closed one eye and looked through the telescope to see Bard and some unidentified man hurdling towards the water, with his arms tight around Bard and tears streaming from his eyes. Then she blinked.

* * *

Rezland refused to stop screaming until he was positive that he would live through the horrible circumstances placed before him. Bard wasn't at all concerned about hitting the water, because he would glide right through it, provided his 'diving partner' would straighten his body. 

"HEY!" Bard finally yelled, "Straighten your body or you _will_ die!"

Rezland stared and blinked at him.

"Trust me! I've been doing this since I was a kid! If your body's straight you won't get hurt going into the water." He pointed at himself with his thumb, flexing his arm for effect. "Just believe in me, and we can fight again!"

Rezland was a combination of inspired and stupefied, but his fear of death by bone-disintegration overwhelmed both feelings. He decided that Bard's word was worth trusting and straightened his body out like Bard. They both hit the water with a splash and went down a few meters, but other than the sudden lung pressure and loss of breath, they were okay.

Rezland had enough for the day and wanted an excuse to not fight that monster again, so he passed out and floated to the surface where Bard recovered him and started swimming towards the shore…maybe. From this distance it was hard to tell which direction the shore was in. All Bard could see at the moment was blue ocean and sky. Thinking it was better to keep his body temperature up in cooling waters, Bard just started swimming in the most appealing direction first.

* * *

The sad fact: shore was the other way. 


	7. Day One, Fish Fight

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"FASTER!" Mars yelled at the marines rowing a small boat with the word 'Rescue' painted on the side, "row faster, you pansies! Don't make me do it for you, or no supper for a week!"

None of the marines rowing were too happy about their situation, or Mars' barking through a bullhorn. The new guy, whom they all decided to haze and berate later for lack of better reason, was going to get a Medal of Honor once he was rescued for 'unprecedented bravery in the face of danger,' or some such crap.

Worse yet, Captain Mars wanted to promote him to an Ensign, his direct underling. These men had been working for years without any advancement, and a day-one newbie gets a managerial position over them after several hours.

Araly was also present in the boat, for lack of anything else to do or reason against going. Normally, that would mean she would take a nap at the base, but all Mars heard was that nothing was preventing her from going and decided to take her. She just let her hands run through the water as the boat cut gracefully, if not choppily, through the ocean waters.

_This isn't necessary,_ she thought to herself while staring at the blue water beneath, spotting several fish. _Bard can swim. I've seen him do it. Heck, when he gets excited he just __**runs**__ on the water. He'll survive.

* * *

_

Bard panted as he paddled his way into the horizon, Rezland firmly attached to his back and feigning unconsciousness. He could feel the water briskly rushing along his body, but ignored it to strengthen the illusion of staying KO'd, lest he ebb on the overly-eager monster that was swimming him to freedom.

Bard stopped himself mid-stroke and perked himself up in the water. He couldn't feel or hear any waves, and after looking all around him he couldn't even find any signs of nearby shore. Bards mouth widened across his face in a nearly straight line as he thought apathetically

_I may have gone the wrong way. Crap._

He turned his head and raised an arm back behind his to hit Rezland's head in an attempt to wake him up. This spooked Rezland from his feign and brought him to full attention.

"Hey," Bard said in a solid, stone-like tone, "I think we're lost"

Rezland didn't know how to accurately react. His body was drenched with water, his bones were soaked and his brain couldn't stop screaming in anger and fear at the prospect of fighting this maniac again. His face instinctively reacted by shifting quickly from tiredness to boiling, palpable anger and his arm reacted by punching Bard in the face. This eased Rezland and Bard's grip on each other, letting Rezland to float on his own.

"What the hell!? Didn't you look before you swam?" Bard held the cheek that Rezland punched with one hand and shook his head slowly, left to right. Rezland's temper worsened at this answer. He started throwing his arms around, splashing water in many directions. After his tantrum was over, he calmed down and crossed his arms. Then he looked up at Bard, who looked crossly at him for the sucker punch.

"Why'd you hit me?" Bard questioned.

"Isn't that a bit obvious?" Rezland began very sternly. "Why would you take off in some random direction? Or were you trying to dump my body in the distance so you wouldn't have to fight me again?"

"That's a complete lie!" Bard fired back, pointing at him for effect. "If that's what I wanted, I wouldn't have been carrying you!" He calmed down slightly before adding "I can't wait to fight you for real. I don't even consider our last battle a real one, and I won't until you start throwing some punches, got that!?" With those last words he extended his arm into a flex with an open palm towards Rezland. A sign of friendship to Bard, challenge to Rezland.

Whatever feeling Bard put into his offer, Rezland accepted it, although reluctantly. They tightened each other's grip and stiffened their muscles. Both started smiling some rather sneering smile at each other, a smile of rivalry. The sharks beneath them were smiling toothy grins themselves.

* * *

"This is how you row, ya wimps!" Mars had grown rather tired of their slow progress and lack of actual searching, so he took over rowing himself, increasing their speed greatly. He also put a few of the marines to the duty of searching for signs of life in the distance with telescopes. It wasn't long before a marine saw something and alerted the Captain.

"What did you see, boy?" The Captain asked, still subconsciously rowing the boat.

"Bard and the pirate," he stopped to catch up to his thoughts, "and a whole school of sharks!"

The other marines turned towards him, the Captain winced, and Araly perked herself and said

"I don't think sharks swim in 'schools'"

* * *

Both young men were floating in the water, although barely, when they noticed the hungry looking huge sharks behind each other. Every mouth present was agape, for one reason or another. Bard and Rezland's eyes were white with fear, but both quickly flashed back into reality. They had to do something to survive, so they formulated a plan. Each. Bard's plan went into effect before Rezland's, so they went with his without knowing it.

Bard's plan was, apparently, to hope that Rezland knew his plan, as he just picked him up out of the water and threw him at a shark. Rezland flew through the air screaming until he hit the shark, square on the nose, sending the fish flailing back into the water with pain seething from its eyes. Rezland recovered in time to jump off the nose and into the air, planning his next move.

Bard was content to just wait for a shark or two to charge at him, then punch them right on the nose. This got similar results for a while, but without proper footing it wasn't driving them away for good. He decided, on wild impulse to climb on top of a shark and use _it_ as proper footing, then wait for the others to jump at him. The shark he climbed seemed surprised, but only more so when it felt the dagger-like teeth of his brother shark digging straight into his back.

Rezland pulled out his guns and took aim. When he held his guns the world slowed around him. When he was fighting for his life, or for the life of another, his focus was unbeatable. Less than a second of aiming to him felt like a minute in his world. He fired both guns, and the bullets spiraled in synchronism towards their target, the shark's brain. Bull's eye…rather Shark's eye. One shark was dead and Rezland aimed his body to land on his new platform, taking from Bard's stratagem.

Bard and Rezland fought off the remaining sharks with a flurry of blade-work and taunting, followed by punches and kicks. Three sharks got fed up enough of Bard punching them and headed for Rezland, jumping from the water into the air with bruised snouts. Rezland anticipated this, hell, he had hoped for this, and reached over his shoulder smiling. He grasped a slimmer portion of the object wrapped in tattered cloth, and swung it in a motion to fast for Bard to accurately follow. Whatever he did, it sent the sharks flying backwards, tumbling in the air. Rezland stayed in his after-swing position, kneeling with his instrument of pain at his side pointed behind him.

"Nice pose, brah'!" Bard shouted over to Rezland, giving an authoritative thumbs-up. His smile was beaming with happiness, stretched from ear to ear. Rezland smiled at him from his position, then moved out of it, standing straight with his weapon resting on his shoulder. He took his free arm and made a thumb up with it, brushing it passed his nose and flexing his arm with guile.

"No prob'!"

* * *

"Halt! This is the Marines! You are under arrest!" A voice said from a short distance, amplified by a bullhorn.

Rezland never broke his pose, that would be stupid, but his face shifted form significantly. His was a look of pure shock and disdain, aimed at Bard for no apparent reason. Bard caught this in the corner of his eye at the motioned slowly toward the marine boat with his hands in front of his chest, waving them.

"Hold up! This guy and I have a fight to finish! You can't throw him in jail!" His expression changed to that of statue-esque seriousness, "and I'm the only one who can kill him!"

Rezland's face didn't change, still surprised and angry, but he dropped his weapon on the shark he was standing on out of shock.

"That's no problem for me, son," Mars said over the bullhorn, "because you're going with him."

Bard and Araly joined Rezland's look, giving a collective of three overly shocked young people within view of the marines, who just grimaced in surprise rather than let their jaws drop to the floor. Mars however, was dead serious. He sighed and picked the bullhorn back up to his mouth and said.

"You're under arrest…for aiding the escape of a pirate…"

* * *

Dead silence followed. 


	8. Day One, Dreams

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

All of the former Buster Pirates were crammed in the marine base's jail. In separate cells, which were specially guarded with elite members of the base, which happened to be the poor saps that drew short straws at the meeting regarding the matter. The marines stood nervously, visibly shaking in front of the opposite cells, guarding the monsters.

Rezland had been accustomed to spending the nights in the roomy cells of the marines, but always managed to escape somehow. Bard, however, was crushed. As far as anyone could tell, his smile was gone, though his face was covered in the shadow of his own despair so no one could tell anyway.

_Why_ he mumbled internally, _why did Captain Mars do this to me? I wasn't helping him escape, I was trying to help him get captured. And I succeeded! Man, this sucks. I just want to---_

"MEN!" Mars had entered the room very loudly for the time of night that it was. The guards quickly snapped to attention, but couldn't stop shaking. Mars stomped over to them and gave a quick salute while still marching in between the cells.

"Get some sleep. I'll take over from here." The marines gave each other startled and relieved looks, which shifted quickly to terror as Captain Mars shouted "GO!!!" at them again. They ran out of the room in opposite directions. When the doors slammed shut and the moon was the only light that the prison had, Mars gave off a wide grin to Bard.

"We sure had them goin, huh kid?"

Bard raised his head with a look of pure confusion on his face. Rezland fell off his stone bed and vaulted into the floor.

"Wait," Rezland said into the solid floors of his jail cell, "what do you mean?"

"Well," Mars replied casually, "I may be a marine officer, and upholder of stern and swift justice and symbol of the righteous fury of the World Government…" Mars pulled out a ring of keys from his coat pocket.

"…but I'm still a nice guy."

He smiled at Bard, who smiled widely back as Mars opened his cell door. Bard walked over to him and got his handcuffs unlocked as well.

"Won't they kill you for this, Captain?" Bard was a bit worried about the situation as a whole, but was outwardly pleased that Mars wasn't abandoning him after all. Mars walked past Rezland's cell and on to the others to free the rest of the pirates.

"Truthfully there," the captain began in a sagely tone, "I could care less if they find out that this was my fault. Heck, I don't really care if they do kill me. Less paperwork."

Bard looked rather worried about Mars. He was the only person on the Grand Line besides Araly that he could really trust. As the pirates quietly scurried out the exit and towards the docks, Mars walked up to Bard, staring him straight in the face.

"Son," he began smiling, "let's take a walk."

He put an arm around Bard's shoulder and led him out of the jail and through the empty mess hall. Rezland just stared in total shock that he had been so callously forgotten. He wanted to scream, but noticed the key ring just within his reach on the floor. Then he just sneered a toothy sneer and reached for the keys with his feet through the bars.

* * *

Mars and Bard were sitting on a rock outside the base where a ship was stealthily docked among some rocks. The pirates from before were told to wait for Mars to give an all clear signal and then board the ship and set sail as quickly as possible. Until then, they hid in the brush next to the beach.

"Bard," Mars started as he was staring at the ocean, which was shining brightly form the moon's reflection, "do you have a dream?"

Bard pondered over this for a moment, but before he could formulate a reasonable answer, Mars interrupted him.

"Why is it that you came all this way? To beat up pirates and spread a message of justice and peace at the risk of your own life?"

Bard gave a have attentive nod, still thinking of a better reason.

"Or did you just want to see this fantastic world of ours? All the wonders and mysteries that exist on this fantastic ocean…stop me if I guess it."

Bard had his answer, and decided to stand while explaining it.

"I came here because I was asked to." Mars just looked at him and snorted amusedly. He stood up with Bard and they both shared a solitary moment, gazing at the sea of adventure.

"And," Bard added thoughtfully, "to become stronger." Mars checked his reaction to see that Bard's eyes were lost at the sea.

"How would you like to chase that dream of your, Bard?" Bard looked down at the Captain, who was now walking towards the ship with his hands behind his back. He answered with a confused nod, which Mars had somehow been aware of. He raised a hand in the air and snapped his fingers, the signal for the twenty-odd pirates to scurry out in a hurry and board the ship via the rocks it was next to.

"Then go chase it, Bard!" Mars said enthusiastically while turning. "Chase it, and never stop chasing!"

Mars' words rang loud and clearly through Bard's ears. Slowly, a smile reemerged on his already tensing with eagerness face.

"RAAAAAAAHH!!!!!" The scream was familiar to Bard, who twisted almost immediately in the direction of its origin. He saw Rezland making a full sprint for the boat, carrying a full sack over his shoulder. He ran up a nearly vertical rock face and jumped with a slam onto the deck. It seemed that stealth never occurred to him when regarding his escape, as the Marine base was blazingly lit up and blaring a warning signal.

Mars slapped his hand on his face and grabbed Bard by the arm. He led him closer to the ship and handed him a bundle of black cloth. Bard clutched the cloth in his arms to find that there was something inside the cloth.

"Get on the ship. I'll try to buy some time." He jerked Bard towards him, putting his other hand to Bards back and stomped his feet in to the ground while pushing Bard forward. "Now…" He released his hand from Bard's arm and pushed him through the air, sending flying to the ship.

"GOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

* * *

Bard flew almost square onto the ship, gracefully on his feet, just as Rezland landed on his foot and knee opposite Bard. They looked at each other for a moment, then focused their attention on the sack Rezland was carrying, which was yelling and squirming. He dropped the sack onto the floor, which was opened from the inside by a very venomously angry young woman.

"Araly! You came to see me off!" Bard said with a dimwitted grin on his face. That grin was replaced with total fear and shock when Araly turned toward him with her demon look on her face. Before she could act her emotions, however, the ship started rocking loose from the rocks. Araly fell straight to the floor, followed by several unprepared pirates.

Bard rushed to the side of the deck to see that they were starting to move from the shore. Near the brush and shrub behind the base, a fleet of marines carrying rifles came rushing through, most of which had torn clothing and blackened faces. Rezland must have caused quite a scene at the base before escaping. Bard spotted Captain Mars shouting orders to the marines, and sneaking in one last smile at Bard while giving a command to fire. Each rifle exploded in the marine's hands, and a dense cloud of gunpowder encircled the area.

* * *

When the marine base was out of sight, the pirates cheered loudly. Freedom was theirs again, and all thanks to that generous marine. Bard was at the back of the boat, looking towards the island they were just on, when he remembered his package from Mars.

He opened it up to reveal his coat from Araly unfurl, with the golden dragon pattern on the back looking almost luminescent in the light, as well as a paperback book and odd-looking instrument which dropped to the deck floor. He picked up the strange looking thing on top of the book, which he recognized as the same thing the marine navigator used to get them to the island base, a 'Log Pose' he had called it.

_I should give this to whoever is steering the ship._

The book had a faded cover, with no visible text. Bard opened it to a random page, which was filled with pictures that nearly made him shoot blood out his nose from the embarrassment. It was, after all, the first time he had seen a naked woman. He tried to close the book but only succeeded in turning it to a different page, this time without pictures. The only word on the aged and faded parchment was **'Rokushiki'

* * *

**

"I've had enough of this ocean," Araly declared to the demented pirate that had earlier kidnapped her and was now holding back her hair as she leaned over the side of the boat, "I wanna go home."

Rezland had apologized several hundred times within the several minutes that they were all out to sea, but had to do most of the through the busted lip and lumpy head Araly had given him.

"Good luck with that," Rezland said almost sarcastically, "the only way out of this ocean is in a box. Believe me." He looked away as Araly moaned and spat out the remainder of her dinner into the water below. Then she sat up, wiped her mouth and looked at Bard, who was staring back at the sea thoughtfully with his arms crossed.

_As long as he can keep me from dying, I think I can manage being here.

* * *

_

The next morning marked the new life for Bard and Araly. A life of fighting, running, and chasing after their dreams without ever looking back. Tomorrow, they would be pirates!


	9. Captain Challenge, Part One

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The morning greeted the eager pirate crew with loud crashes and blasting winds. The Grand Line was a dangerous place for the inexperienced, and this pirate crew had their own share of experiences previous to their "capture". Everyone was crammed in the gun deck, which was large enough to fit them all between the cannons and barrels of water and gunpowder.

"Alright," a gruff looking, big jawed pirate wearing a bandana on his head announced, "let's get this meeting started. First off, we need to establish a chain of command if we want to survive. Therefore, I nominate that we choose our captain from the two most qualified applicants."

The pirates looked among themselves and whispered agreements and arguments to the statement, but no one spoke up. It was a good idea, no matter who was arguing.

"Now then," the pirate continued, "where are those two?"

* * *

Bard and Rezland were up on the deck trying to adjust their course. Rezland had plentiful experience sailing, so he decided to navigate for the time being, while Bard was hastily pulling up and dropping down the sails on the Sloop-of-war as the waves tossed it in every direction but straight. Rezland was trying to steer, but most of his strength was focused on not letting go of the wheel for safety.

"Drop that sail!" he attempted to yell over the wind. Bard heard him and rushed to a random rope to untie it. He couldn't hear Rezland yelling that it was the wrong one, however, and the ship jerked sharply sideways.

The pirates started making their way to the deck, but as soon as they reached it the wind was gone. The clouds were all gone, and the waves had ceased. Many feared the storm being over meant only one thing could have happened, but the gentle winds that moved the ship forward quickly calmed everyone.

"At least there's wind now. Let's go! Hey, Navigator! Are we on course?"

Rezland was slumped over the steering wheel with exhaustion. He had the log pose strapped firmly to his wrist, nearly cutting his own circulation to keep it safe. They were sailing straight with the calm wind. Bard was lying down on the deck next to the mast and panting from all the work he had done alone. Both managed to give a weary thumb up from their positions.

The crew looked back and forth at each other with smiles and sneers of approval. An idea was simultaneously formulated between every one of them.

* * *

"We need to decide on the captain." The gruff pirate from earlier announced to the two candidates. "I'm Marco if you didn't know, the head chef of the ship."

Bard and Rezland looked at each other with confused looks.

"I thought I was going to be the captain," Rezland said to the group, "since I was the first-mate."

"We had thought of that, but that was before this guy kicked your ass." Marco replied, pointing to Bard.

"If the captain ain't strong enough then his crew won't be respected." one of the pirates randomly interjected.

"Well," Bard began, "what were you going to make us do to prove our worth?" he finished as he stood up, towering over the rest of the crew. His startling presence and overall strong appearance was what made him an excellent captain, but his knowledge of the sea was brought into questioning by Rezland.

"You can't even work this ship properly! How can you be a captain of anything?"

Bard turned his head slowly. "You don't need to worry about that. We'll just steal a ship that I _can _understand and sail with that." He faced down at Rezland, who was standing with his hands on his guns now and snarling at Bard. "Just leave everything to your _captain,_ buddy." Bard gave him a childish smile as a finishing blow to his esteem.

Araly walked out from the crew quarters, looking terrible. Her clothes were stained and she was holding her mouth, trying to stave back the last of her sickness into her throat. She staggered warily, with her hands on the fencing of the deck, until she was right up to Bard. With her free hand she motioned him down to her face, as if to tell him something. Bard bent down and tilted his head.

A swift and powerful punch was placed on Bard's face, sending him tumbling off the deck and into the water with a loud splash. Araly's eyes were ablaze with palpable anger.

"CAN'T YOU LEARN TO STEER A SHIP WITHOUT KILLING ME, DAMMIT!!!!!?"

Bard resurfaced himself and climbed up the face of the ship back onto the deck. He was exasperated and nervous to climb back up the whole way and just stayed peeking over the edge.

"I wasn't steering it, though. That guy was." He said while pointing a finger at Rezland. Rezland gave him an unbelievable look that was ended abruptly by Araly's fist burrowing deep into his skull and sending him crashing through a closed door across the deck.

"Maybe we should make her the captain." An anonymous pirate announced. Marco stepped forward and moved towards a door that led to the rear of the ship. He opened it and announced, loud enough for both potentials to hear,

"First one laying on the captain's bed is our new captain!" Bard and Rezland looked up and almost in synchronous, rushed into the door. Despite his handicap of having a slightly unhinged jaw, Rezland ran in first, and was greeted in the face very firmly with solid metal.

* * *

Bard stepped over Rezland's body to find another man in the captain's quarters of the ship. On the bed was a man sleeping deeply, not even moving, with a shovel lying across his body. His hair was greasy and drawn back in a ponytail that was drooping over the side of the pillow. He had ample scars on his arms that were displayed through his tank top shirt.

"This," Marco whispered from behind Bard, "is 'Grave-shift' Max. He's the original captain of the Buster Pirates. However, because of a rare disease he caught that will kill any man if he moves too much, all he ever does is sleep. That's why our previous first mate took charge."

Bard gave them a puzzled look. The image of the loud and ugly guy that was rallying the pirates back on the island came to his mind and he gave a mental shudder.

"If all he ever does is sleep," Bard started, "then why is he in my bed?"

Marco stared at his expression, validating the question and believing that Bard couldn't reach the conclusion on his own.

"We carried him here."

"Ah. That makes sense." Was Bard's answer, which gave way to a number of objectifying gazes and sweat drops forming form embarrassment. "Still, if he never moves how did he attack Rezland?"

Rezland grunted and growled from beneath Bard, then raised his face off the floor enough to speak.

"Because," Rezland said with struggle, "he never attacks his original crewmembers and I joined after he started sleeping like fungus on a---" Another shovel to the head sent him straight down again. Bard looked over at the man on the bed to see that he was still sleeping, and he had only moved part of his arm to hit Rezland.

"So, first to get him to move wins?" Bard looked down at his prey and cracked his knuckles enthusiastically. "Piece of cake."

Marco leaned toward Araly, who was looking on with a ghastly-surprised face.

"You know, you could try too. You're certainly assertive enough to be a good captain."

"Who's steering the boat?" Araly asked, with a hint of anger in her voice, but never showing it or turning from the cabin's wall. The collective group's faces twitched slightly as they heard a wave break on the deck of the ship. In a second they were stuffing their way onto deck and into the heavy rain, while Araly was left behind to monitor the participants progress.

* * *

Bard stared his objective down venomously, while Rezland was playing dead to avoid another crushing blow to his already bruised head. Araly laid herself down in the hall to control her sickness, but couldn't get over the new sound of Max's incredibly loud snoring. The whole journey so far was sucking pretty bad for her. 


	10. Pirate Intermission, Initial Attempt

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

On an undisclosed location somewhere on the Grand Line, an event was about to occur. This particular event is the skipping stone in the lake, from which the ripples of destiny move forth.

Two fresh recruits for the village militia were sitting in the office of one of the most feared men on the sea. His name was Jack Aguila, one of the Shichibukai-candidates. He was on a competitive race for the official title of Shichibukai after a falling out with the former and his superiors with another candidate. Jack sat opposite the two nervous faces, staring them down with his former-167 million-berry bounty stare.

The two, a male and female, had recently arrived with a group of others to the Grand Line in hopes to reinforce the World Government's efforts at keeping away pirates. The island in question was a well know bastion for pirates and, worse yet, Revolutionary scum. Jack sat at his desk, twiddling his fingers, and then slammed his hands to the desk to raise him with dramatic flair. The two young people jumped in their seats.

"So," he began in a suspicious tone, "what are your names?"

The two looked at each other, afraid to take their eyes off of him. There he stood, with a razor sharp stare (and nose) connected to a very demanding and serious face. Slicked back dirt blond hair, an elegant black button-down suit over a white shirt and a velvet sheet cloth down his chest. His pants exaggerated his size, with vertical white stripes running up black slacks, ending at the bottom with heeled dress shoes.

He wasn't as tall or as muscular as any other trained marine or militiamen there, but his overall presence was very threatening. In addition to his overall vampiric façade, he sported fangs and often wore a cape with a hood during the day. The stories that were told of him were what made him a Shichibukai-to-be. It has been said that this man single-handedly killed an entire city of Revolutionary affiliates in one night, never making a sound.

"I'm Harm" the young man stated, trying in vain to choke back his fear.

"I'm Maria," the girl said quickly, as if she had made some mistake.

The fearsome man took his eyes away and paced behind them to a curtained window. He drew back the curtain very slightly and peered out, then closed it again and paced back to his desk chair. Very slowly, he sat down, and addressed the two in a grave tone.

"I assume you know what this village is infamous for harboring from time to time?" They both nodded slowly, not noticing how much they were both shaking. Jack turned around in his swiveling chair to face the wall, then leaned back to look up at the ceiling.

"The World Government is very strict with their control laws on this kind of crime. Any person found affiliating with the revolting traitors must be eliminated as swiftly as possible." He turned back quickly, slammed his hands on the desk again, and jumped up to his feet. "The world cannot contain such vile people! No one must stand by and watch as the balance of the world's power is shifted so rapidly into oblivion!"

It was now that the two initiates grew calm, even attentive and thoughtful to his accusations. They straightened up in their chairs and met his gaze with affirmation.

"That is why I believe, more than anything, we should strive to obliterate the _true _scourge of the world!" he was now yelling, fist raised in the air and shaking with excitement.

The couple looked just as excited. Grins formed on their serious faces, wide and toothy grins. They looked up at him with tilted down heads, still nervous of making direct contact with such a powerful man.

"Now answer me!" He stepped up onto his desk with one leg and onto the chair behind him with the other. "Will you fight with me to rid our world of this unending menace?"

The two glared with evil stares straight past the eager man. The wall behind him began to slowly bulge out an amorphous shape. He still had not noticed the presence in the room.

"Will you fight with me!?" The shape took more form, that of a phantasm with outstretched arm over his own head, and other arm placed on the wall to pull the rest of its body out.

"**CAN YOU FIGHT!?**" The figure was clear now, and Jack had just noticed the presence from the reflection in the couple's eyes. From there he could see the faint image of a man with a knife in hand, seemingly melding out from the wall itself. He turned his head with great effort, then kicked back his legs to jump out of the way. By less than a hair's breadth he had managed to dodge the swing of the assassin's blade. The kick sent him tumbling next to the door of the room.

"Damn," an exasperated voice said, sighing to relieve the stress, "I missed." A man stood on the floor in front of the desk now, with leather 'socks' tied around his feet and tattered slacks around his legs. His torso was fully exposed, as was the bladed knuckle-guard in his clenched hand. His black hair with streaks of silver was parted to diagonally cut across his face, framing him with a nearly painted look of apathy and half-open eyes. His left eyebrow had two silver piercings running through it at the left end of the eyebrow.

* * *

Jack growled and stood up, staring at the now retreating initiates. Then he refocused on the killer that nearly got him reach behind his back and pull out his hand, which was bearing another blade across a clenched fist.

"Who the hell are you?" Jack asked with great anger. Slowly, the assassin raised both his hands in front of his face, crossing them so the tips of the blades were nearly touching. Then, without warning, he jumped forward with hands raised overhead. Jack dodged yet again, but barely. When he rolled to a stop, he felt a slight sensation on his right cheek. He raised his hand to rub away what he knew was there, blood.

"My name," the assassin spoke, "means nothing to a dead man." He charged again, but was countered at the last second by Jack stabbing forward with outstretched fingers. His hand went straight through his target, with his talon-like nails jutting out in uniformity. There was no blood, no pain, nothing. The assassin lowered his arms and turned his face down to meet with Jack's speechless expression. Jack's arm was simply passing through the body, without any marks or blood at the point of impact.

"Meld Meld Fruit, grants the ability to phase through any solid surface unharmed," he leaned down next to his target's ear and whispered, "that includes people, too." He threw up his arm to attempt another stab at the target's widely exposed back, but was countered again.

Jack drew out his hand and jumped back a safe distance away from the range of the other's arm. Feeling less and less secure by the second but still reached for a gun in his desk. He aimed hastily at his enemy and fired. The assassin was thrown backwards and dropped to the floor. Jack panted and smiled, then put the gun on his desk and straightened his neckerchief. Having relaxed considerably, he walked over to the pair still in the room with a maniacally murderous look in his eyes.

"You thought you could get away with it, didn't you?" he said through his sneer. The two were just barely at the door when a sweeping kick from the terrifying man sent Harm plowing into Maria, then both into a bookcase. He walked calmly over, staring at his prey like cornered mice awaiting a cat's final approach.

"Let me inform you about life here on the Grand Line for you Revolutionary scum-bags." His approach was discontinued by a chilled sensation just next to his head. Before he could even wipe away his smile, he ducked to the floor. Maria ran out the door, carrying Harm, as Jack turned around crouching to face his assassin yet again. This time, a jagged edged blade was sticking out of his foot, which he had swung directly at Jack's head. Jack growled with animosity.

"Like I said," the assassin said, kicking his leg in an arc over his head before stomping it to the floor, "_any _solid surface." He punched out both his arms and resumed his previous pose, while Jack still snarled deeply at the assassin. He staggered himself up to stand.

"You won't get away with this, you pirate scum!" Jack shouted.

"Whoever said I was a pirate?" The assassin replied calmly.

* * *

To be continued… 


	11. End Pirate Intermission, Winds of Fate

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"Harm! Harm, are you okay?" Maria's worried voice rang in his ears. Harm sat up to look around, where he was met by the gazes of friends from the past. The image that caught his attention the most was that of a shadowy figure in the corner of the room. Harm felt a sharp pain course through his stomach and fell back to quell the pain. Maria hovered over him quickly and held his hands.

"Don't move so much. You took quite a blow back there." Maria bent down to kiss him on the forehead. He let out a quivering breath and opened one eye through the pain.

"What happened to Zan?" he asked almost deafly. His vision started to fade as he slipped nearly out of consciousness. The shadowy figure had made his way to the bedside, and looked down at him. Harm tried his best not to stare at the man lingering over him with a grin on his face.

"Rest for now. You'll need the strength for your de-briefing on what happened. And besides," the man said as he walked to the door, opening it to illuminate the tribal markings across his legendary face,

"Zan is my best assassin. He won't die easily." With that remark, he exited and the door closed behind him. The entire group that had gathered watched their legendary leader leave, remarking in silence on his presence. Harm drifted out of consciousness, the image of the Revolutionary Dragon looming over him haunted his dreams.

* * *

Jack's attacks were futile up until now. The assassin was panting hard from his tactics, flying and jumping and phasing in and out of the room to get a surprise attack. Nothing was working, and his concentration was becoming lax.

_This guy,_ the assassin thought to himself, _is figuring me out. He knows if I can't see the blow coming, I can't phase through it. It's been far to long for an assassination to be delivered accurately._ He posed, with one leg raised knee-up and arms crossed in front of his face.

"Time to die, government dog." The assassin said in a sinister tone. Jack readied himself for the worst and tried to see where he would be able to come out to attack him, but the assassin didn't use his power immediately.

Instead, he sheathed his blades behind his back and took a dash over to Jack by pounding the ground with his raised foot. Once there, he reached out his hand and phased it into Jacks torso. Then stopped. Jack started to feel a burning, moist sensation in his throat.

"That's your stomach, dog." The assassin said as he tightened his grip on the bloody sack in his grip. Jack screamed with great agony and tried to coil back, but the assassin was welded right into his gut. Blood spurted from his mouth before his composure came back to him. He raised his hand up high and sent it crashing into his attackers back. Then his hand slowly drifted through it.

The assassin looked up, then withdrew his hand and leaped back. He grabbed a cape from the floor and wiped the blood from his arm as he watched his prey twitch with pain. Then, the bloodied and gasping man slowly stood up, and eyed down his attacker.

"I…will not…be killed…by you!" Jack said in-between his raspy gasps and quivering breaths.

"I know. This was an _attempted_ assassination." The assassin replied. He pointed his newly cleaned arm at Jack and continued his explanation.

"It wouldn't be fitting to our plans if you were to die already," he crossed his arms smugly, keeping an undying expression of apathy on his tired face, then slowly sank into the floor. Jack stared at him with animosity as he lowered ever so slowly down into the stone, and caught a barely visible smirk streak across his face before he vanished completely.

The marines came into the room just in time to watch as their temporary commander was pounding at the floor of his disheveled office and yelling

"I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN, SCUM! TO THE ENDS OF THE…" Jack turned with a start to the open door, then arose shakily to his feet and straightened his bloody necktie.

"Gentlemen," he said suddenly, "I would like to take a trip to the infirmary, if I may." The pain and blood-loss finally caught up to him, and he collapsed into the outstretched arms of the panicked marines. As they hauled him through the courtyard in a stretcher, the assassin observed him with calculatingly cold stare. He placed a fist to his chin from atop the highest perch at the island and thought to himself.

_Dragon said not to kill him, that my destiny would lead me off the road of the Assassin. I'm still a little curious,_ still thinking, he now stood up straight with arms crossed and stared out to the ocean, _but he's never been wrong about anything before._ He phased down through his perch and out of a rock wall along a beach that revealed a hidden boat. He hopped in the dinghy and looked at the pose he was given by the leader. His course was re-adjusted, and he sailed off into the darkness.

* * *

"LAAAAND HOOOOO!" Bard heard from the deck. All attempts to move the obstacle for either candidate had been futile so far. Rezland tried attacking while bard tried to catch the shovel in mid-swing. All this led to so far was very stingy hands and a disgruntled look on his face.

"Man. I'm missing all the awesome pirate talk." He said with obvious sadness. Araly had long ago fallen asleep for lack of anything better to do. Bard was sitting on the floor next to a crawling Rezland, who refused to give up despite his multi-leveled concussion. Max never opened his eyes that Bard could see.

_How can he tell exactly where and when to swing like that? Is he a ninja? That would be awesome! My crew will definitely need a ninja to fight with…wait. What was I thinking? Oh right, the captain challenge. I'll think about extra members after I win._

Bard shot to his feet and grabbed the shovel with his hand, throwing it back at the still sleeping man, who delivered another unseen blow. Marco and four other pirates came into the hallway, making sure to stay clear of Araly on the floor, and peeked into the bedroom. The sight was quite interesting. Bard had caught Max's shovel yet again, this time in his teeth, and refused to let go.

All eyes shifted to the now groaning man in bed. He slowly half-opened one eye to see why his shovel wasn't back to his chest. His mouth opened to a small gap, and not even the sound of the ocean was heard as he spoke in a low and rumbling voice.

"Who are you?" Max asked the golden haired man eating his weapon.

"Mm' frrr ah frr hrr ah haa" Bard said with metal between his teeth. Max withdrew his shovel slowly, moving only his wrist and fingers.

"I'm Bard, Captain of this ship! Now get off of my bed!" Bad yelled triumphantly. Max starred at him with one half-dead eye and then muttered a simple

"Okay" before rolling lazily off the bed. Bard jumped into the now empty goal smiling, but Rezland saw opportunity at the same time and tried to dive in under Bard. Once the two caught each other's actions, a fistfight broke out. Bard elbowed Rezland off the bed and threw his arms behind his head in victory. Then he looked up at the cheering pirates and now waking Araly to give his first order.

"Get that man a chair and seat him in the sun, but don't move him much." The pirates picked up Max and rushed out with their heels nearly clicking in excitement. Marco and his friends were the only one on the ship that bet on Bard, so they were getting paid soon. Araly stared up at Bard through sleepy eyes and gave him a small, innocent smile.

"So," she said with a tired voice, "what are your orders, Captain?" Bard sat up and smiled down at her, then stroked his jaw thoughtfully. After a few seconds, Rezland got up and shook his fist at Bard in contempt before turning to the door.

"First Mate Rezland," Bard shouted, "give these orders to the crew for me!" Rezland looked over his shoulder and perked his eyebrows.

* * *

The crew was busy at work steering the ship properly and preparing for a stealthy docking on the island dead ahead. Rezland walked up to the bow and tapped the navigator on the shoulder.

"Where we going?" he asked casually.

"The best place _to_ go after an escape!" Everyone on the deck was looking ecstatic. This island was famous among ne'er do wells like them for being a perfect getaway. No one but pirates were even allowed to know about. The island's inns gave away free rooms to people who showed up with their own wanted posters.

"Ah," Rezland said with a pleasant smirk, "Paradiso Isola."

Off in the distance, beyond the sheet of thin fog that encircled the spring island, was the famed Artefatto Coast, a dock that spanned the island's entire south shore, and was made up of scraps and debris from Marine ships.

"By the way," Rezland added in a roundabout tone to the navigator, "the 'Captain' has an announcement he want to make before we land." As Rezland started away towards the bedroom he left Bard in, he added with a wave. "Get everyone on deck, pronto!"

* * *

Zan studied the instructions that Dragon had left for him with a surgical eye.

"Paradiso Isola, eh?" he looked up at the open ocean in front of him, his dinghy swiftly sailing along the currents like it was being pushed along the water's surface. "I guess I'll figure out the old man's plan when I get there."


	12. Disembark, the Beginning of an Adventure

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"Alright men, LISTEN UP!" Bard announced to his new pirate crew. He was standing on the railing of the bow, behind the steering wheel, looking down at his burly crew of sailors…and Araly who was resting on a makeshift hammock. Hammocks always relieved her seasickness…somehow.

"I feel that I must address some important rules about pirating if we are to make any headway in this dangerous ocean." Bard began pacing back and forth as he spoke, walking nimbly on the wooden rail with his black coat blowing in the breeze. The crew he was addressing in question simply exchanged some confused and amused looks among each other.

"First," Bard began suddenly, raising his index finger, "if we talk like pirates, people will think we're better pirates than any other pirates. Therefore, I want as much pirate-jargon and slang to be said on this ship as possible! Words like 'ahoy' and 'landlubber' and, uh, 'matey'! We clear on that?" Bard turned to the pirates and crossed his arms. To his and their amusement, everyone gave an enthusiastic "**AYE AYE, CAP'N!**" Bard smiled.

"Second, a crew of" he paused to quickly count the head in the crowd with his free hand, "about thirty is to small. We need to try and recruit more pirates to this crew so our strength and reputation will increase as well."

"I have a question" a random pirate said, raising his hand. "How are we supposed to recruit more crewmen? It's not like we can hand out flyers or something like that." Bard turned slowly and shot a murderous glance at the now startled pirate. Bard jumped down to the deck in front of the man and bent down to acknowledge him face to terrified face.

"If you can't persuade them nicely," Bard said darkly, "then threaten them." With that he gracefully jumped back onto the rail and continued to pace while thinking of pirate rules on a whim. The poor man was frozen solid with shock and just stood gazing skyward, drooling slightly.

* * *

"Psst, Girl" Rezland whispered to his shoulder.

"My name's Araly" she said quietly from her hammock, which was swinging in the breeze.

"Is this guy serious?"

"Unfortunately. We used to go sailing all the time when the weather was fine back home, and he tossed kids of the ship if they didn't talk in pirate." Rezland turned to confront her more solidly, noticing that Bard's back was now facing the gathering while he thought.

"So he's had at least some experience as a leader?"

"If you call that experience. We were just kids."

* * *

"GOT IT!" Bard yelled loud enough for everyone to hear behind him. Still facing the bow he continued with his new rule.

"As members of my crew, I expect you to ensure each other's safety in all dangerous situations. Therefore, we need some form of recognition, a sort of secret sign to let us know whose pirate crew we belong to in a crowd. In that light I propose this." Bard leaped off the rail, twisted around in mid-air and landed to the deck, shaking it. When he straightened himself fully, he leaned to the left and flexed his arms to flaunt his gigantic muscles. The pirates stared blankly and confused.

"If you're a member of this crew, you gotta **FLEX** to prove it!" With this statement, he continued to flex and shift his pose several times before the group started to move again. Many of the pirates were turning their heads to each other, shrugging and uttering some inaudible words back and forth.

"C'mon! If you want in _my_ crew, you gotta learn to recognize an ally. Therefore, you gotta work your **BODY!**" At the completion of this exclamation, he was on one knee with one arm flexing upwards and one to his side. Not knowing if he was serious or not, some pirates started to flex. At first, timidly and slowly, then others joined in laughing. Soon enough everyone except Rezland and Araly were half-flexing half-dancing with their captain. Bard noticed this and shuffled past the group to confront them.

"Flex it, Rez! You gotta show off those guns of yours if you really want in this crew." Rezland coiled back with his hips and scoffed, turning around and started to walk away.

"Please," Rezland said very smugly, "pirate crews aren't about gimmicks or secret codes. It's all about power."

"RIGHT! And what better way to show off our power than to show off our muscles!" Bard stated. Araly turned over at the brashness of this statement and looked through stone-cold eyes at Bard who was still flexing away. She couldn't help but notice that the fabric around his shoulders was stretching and almost ready to tear.

"Bard" Araly motioned Bard to come over to her when he turned around. He hopped over on one leg, trying not to break his pose. Araly is a master seamstress and clothier, capable of sewing a pattern into a ship's main sail within a few minutes (provided that the sail is laid out on the ground at full length). She swiped the coat off of Bard and pulled a needle with thread from behind her ear. Bard just stayed as still as possible, but ended up falling on his head.

Everyone looked on at Bard and Araly laughing heartily, as pirates are wont to do. They remarked individually at the sight, not of Bard, but of them both. 'What a cute couple', 'We better stay away from the captain's wife', 'When are you two gonna get hitched?' The jokes struck quite a cord with Bard, who was hardly interested in such terrifying subjects himself. Araly was used to the jokes, since she was the only real voice of partial reason in Bard's life. All she had to do, however, was glance in the crew's direction and they quieted up immediately. Bard was just about ready to shout his head off when Araly called him back.

"Here," she said as she handed the coat back to him, "try not to tear it apart, 'kay?" Bard swiped it back and threw it back on, working a flexing pose into the single motion.

"Okay," Bard said, "now that everyone seems to be on the same page, except Rez, I think we're ready to move out!" Bard hopped over to Rezland who had walked to the edge of the ship to stare at the island they were slowly circling, looking for an appropriate place to dock. One of the pirates was going to question about Mark regarding the rules, but recoiled his arm quickly enough that Bard didn't notice. The answer was obvious.

The island was built out of strong waves and underwater currents that cut away at the solid rock walls to form small inlets the most ships could easily fit in. The Artefatto Coast was connected to these inlets by way of nearly uncountable, labyrinthine passageways carved into the rocky landscape by wind and manpower, though mostly wind. The island was really the perfect haven for pirates or bandits to otherwise escape the impending pursuit of the Marines.

Rezland had taken notice to many ships around the island, many of which seemed to be stolen or ransacked. On an island that was almost always full to the brim with pirates, it wasn't uncommon to come back to your ship and find an empty frame floating in the waves.

* * *

"Watcha' looking for, bud?" Bard said. He was leaning against the railing with his arm next to Rezland.

"Don't call me bud," Rezland started in a rather insulted tone, "and we're looking for an inlet to dock in. After that, we'll head for the town." Bard perked his head at the mention of a town. He gave an inquisitive grunt t Rezland and tilted his head at him.

"There's a town on the Artefatto Coast where pirates are allowed to stay overnight, or at least until the log pose sets. Since the island part is basically all metal, it should only take a few hours for the pose to set, but we can stay as long as we like. There's always a huge party going on, too." Rezland leaned his head out to focus himself on a partially fogged-in inlet. Once he spotted it he ran up to the bow and informed the current navigator of their course. The ship turned sharply and sailed into the inlet as smoothly as possible. Bard personally dropped the anchor, by picking it up and tossing it overboard, which jerked the ship sideways once the anchor rope tightened. 

* * *

The gangplank was extended to the shore and the pirates disembarked one at a time. First was Captain Bard, who just jumped from the ship to the ground. Then came Araly as escorted by Rezland's arm for balance. Once she hit dry land she was walking on her own with ease. As the rest of the pirates disembarked, Bard was staring with awe at the huge pathway that was cut straight out of the mountains.

"Looks impressive, eh?" Marco said from behind Bard. The entire crew had gathered, with the exception of Mark who was leaning back in a chair and sleeping on the deck. Bard turned to the group smiling, and gave off the salute that he had worked on with them. Once Bard flexed, everybody flexed. Rezland even flexed one arm, although a bit apathetically, and Araly mimicked Bard's pose to the best of her ability.

"Bard's Buster Pirates," Bard exclaimed as he spun on his heel towards the path, "onward, to **ADVENTURE!**" Bard ran off into the ravine, followed soon after by the rest of the crew with Rezland in a close second and Araly pacing with the back of the group. Mark snored loudly in his reclining chair with his shovel clenched tightly against his chest.


	13. The Maze of Trouble and Triumph

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"Okay!" Bard announced to the wind blowing through the maze with a smile on his face, "I'm lost! How can I solve this problem?"

* * *

"Gather around everyone! We need to take stock!" Marco was perched on a rock addressing the group which was lax not only a Captain, but a first and second-mate as well.

"Bard got lost within a minute because we couldn't keep up with him. Rezland and Araly went off together to search for him in the direction he ran. Since the rest of us are accounted for, I move that we just find our own way out and wait for the other's to get to town after us."

The group grumbled in agreement as Marco stepped off the rock. That's how meetings usually went for the Buster Pirates, with one pirate re-elaborating on the situation and giving an obvious option. Whether or not everybody agreed didn't matter, that was the only option available to give most of the time. With the decision made, the group started marching forward toward an intersection.

* * *

Bard decided to climb the walls and find the most obvious way out from above. An admirable effort provided that the walls of the maze were perfectly vertical and relatively smooth. Bard couldn't quite climb and his jumps lacked the appropriate height to get a view of the whole terrain. To this new frustration, he punched a hole in the rock wall, giving him a new idea.

* * *

"I blame this on you," Rezland said to the angry girl running behind him.

"How on earth is this my fault?" She said very loudly.

"Well, you brought that dumb-ass onto my ship and made him take it over!"

"I did no such thing! No one can control Bard when he wants to do something!"

Rezland was silent for a moment as he re-gathered his thoughts. He was about to speak, but Araly beat him out.

"Besides, he'll find a way out of this maze. Nothing's ever stopped him before." Rezland turned back to notice that Araly's pace had slowed a bit as she was catching her breath. Rezland stopped and started to catch his breath as well. When Araly was breathing normally again, she initiated a new conversation.

"By the way, why did you kidnap me back on the Marine base?"

"I didn't," Rezland said still breathing. Both started walking. "I just grabbed someone as collateral so they couldn't shoot at me."

"So if they had opened fire on you---"

"That's right! You'd be my meat shield." Rezland was rather unprepared for Araly's short fuse erupting in flames so quickly. A swift rock to the head gave him a simple lesson and minor concussion as if to say 'serves you right'. Araly skipped off merrily, just to spite the now rising and groaning Rezland.

* * *

Bard was almost up to the top. After several failed attempts and minutes of mental preparation, he was well on his way to the wall's edge. The holes that his punches made were crumbling and cracking underneath him, though he was far too cocky to notice. As his grip tightened on the ledge over head, he heard the sound of running under him. He looked down to find himself some five-or-so meters above the ground, and spotted the rushed ponytail of Araly jogging past. Bard pulled himself up and rested himself on the edge of the wall, about to call out, when he was cut off preemptively by another familiar voice.

"Wait up!" Rezland came running into frame now, waving his arm. When he got to Araly he put on hand up to face and leaned over to catch his breath. Bard went unseen and just watched from above. 

"We're going…the wrong way…moron." Rezland said in-between his panting. Araly looked angrily at him, then turned around in a huff.

"How are you so sure that this isn't the right way?" She said smugly. Rezland stared at her with contempt.

"Because I have an internal compass that has _never_, not _once_ driven me from the right direction. Who do you think was navigating for the crew before you and Bard came along?"

"One of the other guys?" She answered seriously. Rezland caught himself from vaulting in to the ground and straightened himself up.

"Just trust me. I know how to get out of this place but I need you to cooperate with me." He extended a hand in friendship, with a soft smile on his face.

"I'm going this way" Araly said as she pointed in the direction Rezland had labeled as 'wrong' before. Rezland's finger was limp and his mouth agape with anger. He drew in his arms and clawed his fingers in anger.

_What the hell is her problem? _

Bard couldn't hear most of the discussion, being a good distance out of sight, but could make out that the situation had been resolved and Araly had won. Rezland slumped after her, mumbling under his breath.

Bard stood back up and felt himself falling slightly. This is when he noticed that the holed he punched in the rock face had worked themselves into a series of connected fractures which were now causing the wall to fall apart. Before Bard could appropriately balance himself he started to tumble down into the quickly building avalanche.

Rezland and Araly turned around with horror on their faces as they watched the mass of rock and gravel rushing towards them. Bard regained his balance and was half-running half-surfing on top of the avalanche. He smiled and waved at them like he didn't know what was happening.

* * *

"What was that?" Marco asked to the wind. Araly and Rezland came sprinting through the ranks of pirates, knocking most of them back before Rezland perked up to their existence.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY! RUUUN!" Rezland was off and running again. The pirates stared in curiosity for a moment before they found out what exactly was so scary. At the sight of the wall of rock rushing down the path of the labyrinth, with wide eyes, the crew started shouting and sprinting away from their gravely death. Bard was still hoping merrily along the rumbling wave after his men. He yelled for them in vain, trying to get his voice over both the thunderous avalanche and the terrified screams for dear life from the pirates.

Araly was the first to reach the exit, though in her blind fear she hadn't noticed that there was in fact an exit, she was just running. Rezland was following after her, but he noticed when he got out of the maze. Momentarily ignoring the panic echoing out from the maze, he looked down the hill to the massive, wooden coastline. From the water hitting against the elevated shore to the tents and mini-villages built among the trees, and the far spread city in-between. Paradiso Isola, the Pirates Haven.

The entire crew went speeding past Rezland, still standing and admiring the scenery like an idiot. Rezland's consciousness we perked again with Bard landing next to him and snapping around as he cracked his fists in his hands.

"What are you doing?" Rezland shouted over the approaching thunder from the valley.

"I'm gonna fight back the avalanche to protect the village down there. It's the least I could do since I caused it." Bard said, focusing intensely at the incoming wave of rocks.

Rezland was frozen in shock. His eyebrow twitched and he felt a tremendous heat rising up from his gut. He grabbed the weapon strapped to his back and swung it down hard on Bard's head, blunt edge first, of course.

"You're just all kinds of aggravating, you know that? Your just gonna punch an avalanche to stop it? Then what, punch the debris from the avalanche before it makes a _new_ avalanche? You're out of you mind!"

Bard recovered and revved his arm back, ignoring Rezland the whole time.

"Baaaaaard…"

Rezland could actually feel the power coming from Bard. It was a huge pressure on his chest that formed from looking at Bard's murderous glare. Bard's back foot snapped forward, digging into the ground, and he thrusted his fist forward, sending an explosive wave as he contacted the rushing rock.

"**BUST-AAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!**"

The wall dissipated and flew back into the labyrinth. All the debris rained in a fine dust over the mountains as Bard stood triumphantly in a crater. Rezland had been knocked back and down the hill, landing on his rear next to Araly. Rez looked up to notice that Araly had been watching the whole thing with wide, amazed eyes. All the pirates who were nearby and saw the avalanche get decimated were staring in a similar way.

Bard hopped out of the crater he made and looked at amazement to the town. The ground was now hidden by the army of cheering, shouting pirates that had emerged from the woods and the town not to long ago. Bard looked around at his growing audience and smiled. Then, upon seeing his crew saluting him eagerly, including Rez and Araly, he reaffirmed his position. With one suave and overly muscular pose, Bard leaned back with his arms at his side and feet together, flexing his entire body.

"RRRRAAAAAAHHHH!" 

* * *

The crowd cheered along. Tonight was going to be a great night for the new pirate captain. The cheers were so loud that Max was momentarily stirred when he fell out of his chair, then went right back to sleep on the deck.


	14. Party! Cheers to Captain Bard!

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The wooden city is rumored to have been built from the scrap wood and debris of sinking ships when pirates ruled the coast. There are even tales that the massive Tall Mast Tavern, an inn and tavern in the center of the city, was made from a part of the Pirates King's ship before he commissioned the _Oro Jackson_ many years ago at Water 7. Inside this tavern, which acted as a mast complete with a crow's nest at the top, acted as a guiding point to the epicenter of Artefatto Coast.

Inside the tavern was a chaotic sight. Pirates from the world over were cheering and singing, dancing and drinking, singing tales of a man they had just met. Bard, who saved them from an avalanche (which no one but Rez knew he caused), was the center of attention. Not only that, but he was by far the youngest captain there.

'Just look at this kid!' 'They sure grow 'em big in the West, eh?' 'Where's your girlfriend, kid?' 'How much do you bench?' These were among the slurred shouts and inquiries from the gathering as Bard sat atop a pile of tables. For now, he was as good as a king in the eyes of these drunks and bandits. The Buster Pirates, by affiliation, were given free rounds of fine ale.

"Tell us, kid," one large man began, "how'd you come to the Grand Line?" Bard looked triumphant atop his makeshift throne and responded to every question he heard with a smile.

"Reverse Mountain!" the pirates listening let out a short uproar of exclamations and praises. "It was awesome! I didn't get to see much of it, though, but there was this giant whale-thing at the end! It was as big as a mountain, maybe bigger!" The pirates still sober started to nod and talk amongst themselves while the drunken ones shouted their condolences.

"Yeah, that thing's a jerk!" one very drunk pirate yelled. "He ate most of my crew and half of my ship, so I had to paddle my way here on a scrap of wood!" A chorus of laughter rang out again.

* * *

Upstairs, in the suite at the tiptop of the inn, Araly was peering out the window. There were many poorly dressed men and some women walking around in the wooden streets. It all seemed eerily familiar to her. Back at home she would often observe the goings-on of her hometown, neighbors greeting each other and families going to market together. This all seemed far to peaceful to be a town full of pirates. Araly jumped slightly from the knock at her door.

Rez opened the door about halfway and peered inside to find her on the bed next to the window.

"Hey! You comin' downstairs or what? This party's great!" Araly shook her head.

"I'm fine. I'd rather not be the center of attention with Bard down there. Just tell him not to drink any booze or I'll kill him." Rezland gave her a curious look, as if to say 'you can't be serious,' though he didn't want to bet if she wasn't. He chuckled and left with a brief "I'll try".

Araly stared at the door for a second more before something caught her eye outside. A small group of men were talking amongst themselves under a streetlight. They were huddled around one man who was holding a large paper of some kind. Then one of them pointed up to the mast in, almost directly at Araly. Several other men glanced up for a second before bringing their attention back. Araly felt a chill run down her spine, like they knew she was watching.

* * *

"Goddamn the ocean is salty!" Zan stepped out of his little boat, which was now saturated with water, and planted his feet on dry land. He had arrived at his destination, Paradiso Isola, with little complication beyond nearly drowning twice. His ship was docked at the opposite end of the island. In the south was the town, and at the northern coast was a dense forest where the thick fog came from.

"Guess I should get going. No point in staying here any longer than I…" His prose was cut short by a twig snapping. Any experienced assassin knows to never let your guard down even for a moment. The whole time Zan walked through the forest he had a foreboding feeling that he was being watched, nay stalked the entire time. When he reached the mountain path that led to the labyrinth ravines, he looked back in a panic. He saw only the foggy shadows of the forest swirling about.

The mysterious figure hidden in the mist watched as Zan phased through the solid rock wall and disappeared into the maze. Hunched over on top of a tree, clad with a skin-tight black body suit and a black scarf wrapped around its face, the shadowy being had observed the assassin's every move. Every precise reaction and movement through the forest was calculated and an objective was reached within this stranger's mind. Straightening itself up, the mystery person clasped his hands together with index and middle fingers pointing up, then disappeared in a wisp of smoke.

* * *

The town's bustle had finally settled. The only remaining people in the tavern now were the Buster Pirates and the tenants of the inn itself. The rest of the rooms had been rented out to the new pirates. This was a common custom of the town's main merchants, to make all new visitors feel welcome so they could bring them back more business in the future. The tenants continued light and somewhat hearty conversations with the crew, while Bard had retired upstairs already. All the food he had eaten knocked two of the inn's chefs unconscious.

"Where'd you learn to cook like that, guy?" the curious bartender asked Marco.

"In the East Blue there's a restaurant-at-sea called Baratie. Me and my friends here used to work on it before we were booted out by some young punk." Marco took a chug of his drink, then continued. "Something about 'being rude to a lady' when some chick was trying to skimp out on her bill." Marco and his three fellow cooks were all seated at the bar, while the rest of the crew was at the tables, chatting up a storm. The noise carried away to the upper stories where Rezland and Bard were staying. Bard refused to share a room with Araly for unknown reasons, so everyone assumed he was just shy.

* * *

Rezland was busy fine-tuning his pistol-swords, calibrating the sights and sharpening the blades in one corner of the rather wide room, while Bard had retreated to the crow's nest atop the inn to read from his mystery book. Rezland tried to peek at what Bard was reading, but Bard obviously wanted to keep it a secret from him.

Up in the crow's nest of the inn, Bard had a perfect view of far and wide. With the mist rolling back in from the labyrinth he couldn't see the ships docked along the jagged coast, but he could see the town. There were lights everywhere from candles and lanterns of pirates who were still going about their business in the night. Bard was busy reading the mystery book that Captain Mars had given him before he set out as a pirate.

* * *

_Rokushiki is a set of six highly destructive and powerful techniques that are to be used in self-defense only. These arts have been known to go under other names in the past, such as "The Demon's Fist", and "Unarmed Assassination". Mastery of each step will lead to the ultimate of all martial art techniques…_ Bard turned the page and stared down the curious word that was sprawled across the entire page

_**ROKUOGAN**_

After feeling satisfied with reading the word over and over, mouthing it for effect, he turned to the next page.

_The Support Arts 1. Soru_

_Soru is a technique required to master several more steps of Rokushiki. The first most important training regiment to take into consideration is that of ones legs. Soru requires powerful leg strength, enough to crack open steel should be a minimum requirement. Once the legs have been trained, an open space is required for effective practice. Make sure there's something to stop your body from carrying itself to far and run into it as fast as possible._

Bard stared and silently judged the authenticity of these instructions. It all seemed a little to convenient. The most powerful form of fighting in the world was being spelled out for him in a step-by-step guide. Not only that, but the training for the first step sounded insane and painful.

_Captain Mars gave me this book, _he thought, _so it's got to help me! I can't give up just because something sounds ineffective and painful!_ Bard resituated himself to continue reading the guide to learn **Soru**, when a knock at the hatch that led downstairs startled him. He quickly tucked the book into his inner coat pocket and stood up, facing the ocean.

"Bard," Araly inquired sleepily, "are you going to sleep up here?" Bard had given that thought so he could continue reading, and the sky didn't have any rain clouds so the idea didn't sound so bad, but sleeping on a wooden floor wasn't appealing after all the Marine work he had done like that.

"Nah," he replied, not turning "I'll go back down in a sec." he heard the hatch close and footsteps coming towards him. Araly leaned against the crow's nest and looked out to the ocean, gazing at the splendid moonlight bouncing off the rolling waves.

"It sure is beautiful, this deadly ocean." She said longingly. Bard glanced at her quickly, then smirked.

"You always were a real poet, you know?" he joked. Araly glanced through her eyelashes at him with a smile on her face.

"And you always were the center of attention, weren't ya?" Bard looked away, "And guess what," she said as she hopped off towards the hatch door, "you still are." She winked and left down the ladder with Bard watching her out of the corner of his eye. Bard sighed and hopped back towards the hatch to climb down after her. At least he got to sleep in a bed tonight.

* * *

"Is everything ready?"

"Yeah. We haven't seen any of them for a few nights so far."

"Good, good. The commander will be happy to hear this."

Two pirates were talking quietly in an alley behind a bland looking shack on the outskirts of town. From a nearby tree, the mysterious figure from the woods was lurking unnoticed, listening to the entire conversation.

"The ships should be here by tomorrow, so we have to get ready for the attack ASAP, got it?"

"yeah, yeah, I got it."

The other pirate snickered evilly. "These stupid pirates won't know what hit 'em." A low poof was heard from behind the pirates. The evil looking one hit the other with his open hand.

"You pig! Excuse yourself!"

"I didn't do anything!"

* * *

_They're already moving out, it seems._ The mysterious stranger's face was partially illuminated by the moon. His auburn bangs peeked out from his black headband, while the black muffler covered his lower face. Fishnetting was on his forearms and short-studded leather bracers covered both his hands. A long sword in a black scabbard was sheathed around his back, and his black suit ended at his cloth-booted feet.

_We'll have to be prepared for the worst._ With a slight hand motion, the mysterious man vanished in a puff of smoke from the top of the crow's nest.


	15. A Suspiciously Nice Day

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Morning came with the chirping of happy birds in the clearing fog and the stinging burn of the sun in Rezland's eyes. He had always slept below deck in the dark for maximum comfort and low early morning possibility of waking up. Now, he was temporarily blind. Bard was still sleeping soundly, meaning loudly in the case.

Rezland rose up and sat on the edge of his bed, rubbing his eyes angrily. It was far too bright outside. Then the light faded slightly. He perked up his head and looked out the window. Thick clouds were moving across the sky slowly. None of them looked like rain clouds, but the wind seemed to be evident of a storm coming in soon.

There was a thud behind him. Rez turned around to notice that Bard had rolled out of his bed onto the floor. Only slightly stirred, he drifted back off to sleep. Rez had half a mind to wake him up, but decided against it when he felt his stomach churn.

"_Damn, that food really soaked up that booze. I need a restroom."_ He scurried over to the hatch, leaving his large weapon in the room for the sake of a faster trip, and slid down the ladder. Not a second or so later, the door to the room opened and Araly walked in wiping the sleep from her eyes. She spotted Bard on the floor and giggled. He always did that as a kid, and usually ended up squashing her older brother.

* * *

Zan had slept in an alley last night at the edge of town. The sun swiped across his eyes from a crack in the wood beside him and he jumped up, fully awake. An assassin can't let a thing like exhaustion or tiredness get the best of him at any time. He exited the alley, unnoticed, and slipped into town.

The small city was slowly waking up. Quite a few people were already out in the streets, carrying fishing poles, and heading to the docks to catch their lunch. Most of the food and booze was free, and stolen, but these were obviously the kind of pirates that didn't want their skills dulled by luxury. Other pirates were meandering through the narrow side streets and into the various shops in the Town Square.

As he walked, Zan could feel a shifting in the air. It was a kind of shifting that the assassin was otherwise used to, because he would be the one causing it. It was the drifting winds of an assassin on the move, quickly darting and weaving in and out of cover and sight. Zan could consciously feel the approach from behind him, and prepared himself.

A scrappy looking young man with his face buried in a red-and-green striped muffler and tattered clothes walked past. He coughed loudly while passing as well, holding his hand against his muffler. Zan kept his guard up, anticipating a sneak attack from behind and ignoring the passerby he nearly armed himself against.

A door behind him opened up and he heard a loud, stretched out yawn. As he turned his attention to this, the ill wind faded. Instead, a pressure was forming in his hands, forcing them to clench as he looked at the yawning citizen. A full head taller than him with golden hair and wearing a sleeveless black coat.

* * *

Bard was going out on the town with Araly, who was still trailing behind. She wanted to see just what kind of city a mass of pirates could build. Bard was also interested to observe the goings-on of a pirate-only population. Considering that he heard no cannon fire or gun shots for the longest time, he had already ruled out that they fought exclusively.

Araly skipped out, wearing a deep-blue dress and sandals that the bartender had given her upon her arrival. It was them man's late wife's dress that she loved, so he gave it to her out of kindness and the fact that she looked remarkably similar. Her hair was done up in a ponytail that fluttered lightly in the breeze.

She grabbed Bard's arm and dragged him off into the streets, neither noting the man leaning against the wall behind them. Zan slipped into the tavern while no one was watching, and walked stealthily out of the wall.

* * *

"Wow! I wonder how long this all took to build." Araly mused as she spun around admiring the rugged majesty of the buildings. People were walking and talking to and fro, some carrying bundles and baskets of unknown objects. There was a weapons shop across from an armorsmith, an ammo store next to a gun store, a fishery next to a bakery. Everything was arranged so conveniently it hardly seemed like the view of a pirate town to her.

"Pretty long, I'd say." Bard responded neutrally. He wasn't to interested in anything until he saw the docks. This was the reason for the cliff-side inlets, the dock was full to the brim with every kind of ship thinkable. It was hard to tell where the wooden roads ended and where the ships began. The only possible signs would be the sails and flags, but right at the dock was a line of shops that specialized in ship repair and maintenance.

Bard whistled at the sight, but Araly's attention was caught elsewhere. She saw a lovely looking lady dressed like royalty. She was seated underneath an umbrella and sitting on a blanket in the middle of the street. No one else seemed to be paying her any mind, though. Araly left Bard to go talk to her, not that bard noticed.

She approached the elegant lady in her red kimono and waved a polite greeting.

"Hello, ma'am. Nice day, isn't it?" As if on cue, the umbrella wedged itself from the wood it was spiked into and flew away into the cluster of ships. Araly slapped her hands to her mouth in embarrassment and shock. The elegant lady just looked after her escaping umbrella and tittered with her hand to her mouth.

"My. You're quite the jinx, aren't you?" Araly jumped and tried to feign innocence. She put one hand in front of her, forgetting her manners and waving it spastically.

"I-it's not my fault! I was just trying to make conversation and the wind…" The elegant lady cut her off and motioned her to sit.

"It's alright. That wasn't my only one. Would you like to share my lunch with me dear?" Araly was momentarily speechless by the request, but recovered and bowed politely with thanks.

* * *

Bard walked down the dock, admiring all the ships. He thought carefully to himself as to which kind of ship he wanted for his crew. The one they had at the moment was great, but there were only a few cannons and it was far too small. As he mused, a rag wearing young man brushed against him with a fishing pole. He coughed violently, then walked down a gangplank and across the mass of ships.

* * *

"What else you got, bar-man?" Rez asked in a still desperate voice. The bartender, looking very annoyed, announced the same thing as the last few times this question came up.

"All we got right now is bread and fish! The merchant ships haven't come in yet! If you don't want any of that," he slapped his hand down on the counter, "go find your own food."

Rez just sat there with his chin on the bar and whimpered, while a shirtless man munched on fried fish and bread beside him. Suddenly, the man stopped eating and spoke up to Rez.

"You know, the fish isn't too bad." Rezland peered over as the man took a drink. He raised up and rested his arm on the bar.

"I ain't got anything against fish, I'm just tired of it. And bread's to bland without meat."

"Well, the booze is good." He replied, taking another sip.

"Who drinks this early?

"Some people." The door was nearly thrown open as a large man in a trench coat walked in followed by several others. It looked like a bison leading a pack of weasels. The large, heavily bearded man with a dirt-colored coat and snake skin slacks stomped up to the bar and slammed his hands down with a resounding crash.

"BARTENDER!" he screamed. The bartender casually approached the huge man with a smile. His smile was wiped off when he was lifted to eye level with the behemoth of a man as he screamed his demands at him.

"Give me a barrel of ale and crate of yer finest meat!" The bartender scrawled something onto a notepad in his hand and reiterated the gentleman's order.

"So, that's a drink and an order of fish. What about the guys behind you?" He said, waving his pen at the lanky, stalky guys that were huddling around the bar with menace in their nearly toothless grins. The giant man threw the poor bartender against the racks of shelved wine and booze on the wall. Rezland started to stand up, as did the man at his side.

"Do you know who I am, you punk! Leroy, tell this ungrateful varmint who I am!" One of the weasly men stepped up onto the bar and sat facing the stunned bartender.

"This here is the Lawless Rugby of the Dustbowl Pirates, Legend of the North Blue with a terrifying bounty of 42 million berries! His name strikes untold fear into the hearts of all that hear it! Now you go back and get what his majesty ordered you or we'll…"

There was a crack of thunder that ran through the whole town. The wind picked up, the dark clouds started rolling in over the mountains, and pirates were scurrying for cover. Once the air settled back, the lanky man was lying on the floor with blood seeping from his cut lip. Rezland had become fed up with his nasally voice and decided to sock him to shut him up. The giant man looked down at his fallen underling, then back up at the two. Zan, with his hand blades at the ready, and Rezland preparing out one of his gun-blades.

"I got the big one." Rez said.

"I got the rest." Zan replied.

* * *

The bartender and all customers at the bar stared on in shock as the two brave warriors were charged by a stampede of angry bandits. They both smiled and charged back.


	16. The Storm, Part One

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"That certainly was close, wasn't it?" said the elegant lady. She and Araly had run into a nearby building for protection from the rising winds and rain, only to find that they weren't alone. A group of swarthy looking gentlemen were leaning against the walls, staring at the only two women present.

Araly was getting disturbed by the continuous glancing at her and the inaudible whispering going on between the men. She shivered in fear as to what they might be talking about. One incident was enough in her life for now. The elegant lady, however, looked perfectly calm.

"Are you sure we're safe in here?" Araly whispered almost silently to her companion. The lady looked over at her with a gentle smile then cast her eyes back down to a small box. She lifted the lid to reveal the half-finished lunch they had left before retreating into the shack.

"Let's finish this off, alright?" she asked. Araly stared at her for a moment, then calmed down and scooted closer to try and enjoy what was left of their food. The men in the room had seen the woman opening the box, and several tough looking brutes stalked over to their blanket.

"Hey there ladies," the one with the pompadour said as smoothly as his rough and evil voice could carry. Araly turned to him and broke a cracker in her mouth, trying to intimidate him. "Mind if we join you?" he finished.

"I like that little one, man. She seems feisty." Said the fat one, who got a direct elbow to the gut for his remark by the apparent leader. The group of men glared smugly at the two ladies. Araly was becoming increasingly hostile and scared, whereas the elegant lady was continuing to eat and sip from her cup of tea.

"Do you two girls got enough food to share with all us guys?" a weasely looking man from the back of the group asked. Araly turned back and picked out a tart from the box, throwing it into her mouth before another semi-perverted remark was made.

"Sorry," the woman said back without turning to them, "but no. This food is for the two of us to enjoy. You should go ask your male compatriots in the corner to share their food with you." The group's eyes' shot from corner to corner until they saw two pirates eating with their backs turned on everyone else.

"You bastard! Gimme some food!" The group left the ladies in favor of pounding the unfortunate men who had been holding out the entire time. Araly giggled softly to her friend, and the woman tittered back in response.

* * *

"Wow! Where'd all that rain come from?" Bard was in the rain for only a brief moment, but the rain was intense enough to soak him to the bone. He had been exploring the shipwright stands and fishing supply shops along the dock when the storm kicked in. Then, after a moment or two of searching for Araly, he took refuge in a rather large shack near the square.

Bard started walking down a narrow hallway into what he assumed was a room when he head two people talking around the corner.

_It'd be rude to interrupt their conversation, whatever it's about, so I'll just stay here until they're done._ Bard leaned casually against the wall and listened for a break in their talking, but accidentally overheard the discussion.

* * *

There were three voices, one rough that spoke the most frequently, one that sounded very submissive and spoke sparingly, and then a resoundingly deep and muscular voice that rarely talked.

"Well, that's only under ideal conditions. As you can hear it's raining now. The wind and waves in the area are probably working against them."

The deep voice gave an affirmative grunt before the other continued.

"This isn't a worrysome set back, though. At most, only a few hours will be lost. Lawless and his men are confirmed to be in position at the Tall Mast, and the docks are still occupied with our subterfuge experts."

"At our signal, the boats will all burn and sink into the sea." The submissive voice interjected. A slapping sound was heard as the frequent speaker had struck the other man.

"Yes, well, that's true. The ships along the mountain coast will be subsequently destroyed after the town is finished. Then we can work on the list." A slight rustling of paper was heard. The deep voice spoke up now.

"Do we still have a confirmation on 'them'?" He added special emphasis to 'them', whoever 'they' were.

"Yes sir, they're still here. We assume that they will attempt a counter-strike against us when we make our move, and we're ready for them."

"How many bounty heads have you already confirmed?" the deep voice asked.

"Take a look, sir." Another brief rustle of papers, most of which were being grabbed and handled, then a short silence.

"What's the expected MBC?" the deep voice inquired.

"Considering the bounties on most of these pirates, I'd say around thirty percent." This warranted an annoyed grunt from the deep voice, then the sound of clothes rustling as someone rose up from their seat.

* * *

Bard's face had gone from curious to downright angry. All this talk was discussed in an obviously serious and sinister tone, and the talk of bounties had nerved Bard quite a bit. Bard's first impression, although rather uneducated, was correct.

_Bounty hunters. This could get ugly_. The rain outside was beating much more quietly on the roof than before, so Bard took this opportunity to leave. He opened the door, but was preemptively caught by the men in the other room.

"Who's there!?" Bard slammed the door shut and ran out into the street. It was still raining, but not as hard. He could see the door to the Tall Mast Tavern from the street and remembered that someone or something was supposed to be there. Bard positioned himself directly in line with the tavern and closed his eyes.

"**SORU!"**

The door to the shack flew open and the submissive, skinny man's head peaked out. There was no one in the street or anywhere that he could see. He looked up, down, to all different sides but could still see no one and nothing. He closed the door as he returned to the two other gentlemen in the shack.

"Didn't see nobody, sir. Sorry."

"Ah, it figures," the talkative bounty hunter quipped, "it must've just been the wind, right boss?" The large, deep voiced man stared in the direction of the door with utter shock in his eyes.

_It couldn't have been. What I heard just now, was it really…?_ "Right," he finally snapped back to a cold, diminutive glare, "the wind."

* * *

A swift swinging kick to the face and the rat flew away. A quick jab to the gut and another one went tumbling. A crossing slash and yet another flew across the bar and broke apart a table. Zan was on a roll, fighting as many as ten of these wiry little berserkers at once.

He had been refraining from melding through anything the whole fight, trying to save his trump card in case he needed to help his ally fight off the large man throwing tables across the room. Rezland, however, was doing fine. The tables that he couldn't just sidestep of cut apart were grabbed and hammer tossed back to their burly sender.

"C'mon, at least start trying, here!" Rezland taunted. This greatly angered his already red-faced opponent, who rushed him headfirst from across the spacious room. Rezland jumped clear over him and grabbed the back of his fuzzy collar, hitching a ride as the mental beast rammed straight into a wall. Rezland flipped off and drew his gunblades to parry the sword attacks of the minions behind him.

"Sorry," Zan said as he stepped in, knocking the swordsmen unconscious with two stern backhands. "Those guys kinda slipped past me. How's your fight going? Need some help?" They both looked over at the grizzly man trying in vain to pull himself from the wall he was lodged in.

"Nah. I'm good. In fact this fight's pretty much over." Rezland reached into a small pouch on his belt and pulled out two small, blue pellets. He opened the revolver chamber of both his gunblades and loaded them with precision and speed that Zan couldn't follow.

"What are those?" Zan asked, pointing with the tip of his knife to Rezland's now loaded guns.

"Nerve gas pellets. They come in hand with jackasses like this." Lawless Rugby, now a proud and pissed leader of zero conscious men, finally pulled himself out and turned around just in time to stare down the barrels of the sharpest guns on the ocean. Rezland fired both at once and hit square in Rugby's nose. The gas flooded into the giant man's sinuses and in an instant he was floored, twitching slightly and drooling with white eyes.

Rez twirled his guns and blew on the barrels with style and Zan stared amusingly at him. Rez turned and met Zan's gaze, then sheathe his guns and extended his hand. Zan sheathed his blades behind his back and grasped Rez's hand, both applying a firm grip.

Their moment of friendship was interrupted first by the cheering and applause of their apparent audience that was hiding in the corners and behind overturned tables, then by a wall near the door crashing down into debris. Rain and chilly wind poured into the dusty, body ridden room. The rubble started to shift from a recognizable source. Soon enough, a tall figure in a sleeveless coat stood erect from the debris.

* * *

Zan looked deadpan and serious at the newcomer, but Rezland had a ravenously angry face aimed at the man now walking over. Rezland broke the handshake and stomped over to meet this tall stranger.

"Rez, we've got…" Rezland delivered a firm right hook to the man's jaw, forcing him to stumble backwards a few steps and his cheek to swell up.

"WHAT THE HELL, MAN? Is this anyway to greet your captain?" Zan perked himself to this statement while Rezland just fumed and continued marching.

"What the hell kind of captain breaks down an entire wall instead of just using the damn door!?" Rezland shouted, attempting to face his captain on his toes.

"It's not my fault! I was aiming for the door, but it's slippery outside from the rain and I veered off course while I was running!" The whole of the conversation was dismissed by Zan as infantile, so he interjected at that moment, melding through the slight debris instead of stepping over it.

"What were you saying before, stranger?" Zan asked. Bard refocused on him and put on a straight face.

"I think this town's in trouble." The audience that had been in hiding not to long ago perked their ears up to hear this supposed trouble.

"There are bounty hunters here who want to destroy the town and capture all the pirates!" A quiet panic ensued. Hushed conversations between all the unfortunates with bounties on their heads started to roar up. Zan perked his head up, considering the possibility of a raid on a pirate town quietly to himself.

"Rez," bard began again to his first mate, "do you know where Araly is?" Rezland looked up with shock at bard, considering that Araly went out with him earlier.

"She's not with you?" Bard's eyes shot wide open and his teeth were visibly clenching in response to Rezland. He turned around quickly to view the downpour in vain hope to see Araly, but caught the vision of something more startling instead.


	17. The Storm, Part Two

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"HEY! LADY! I don't suppose you got something to say to me, eh?" A gruff, newly bruised pirate yelled at Araly's friend. This was the pirate who was caught hoarding food, and was promptly beaten by the others for it.

"Yes, I do." The elegent lady said. She picked up a cup full of sweet-smelling tea, took a long sip and then set it down with a brief sigh. "Your grammar is atrocious." The pirates snarled monstrously and pulled out a saber, pointing it straight at the insulting woman.

"You little wench. Watch your mouth! Now apologize and I'll let you off easy." The lady glared derisively at him, her stare chilling the very air around her. Araly tried to scoot away discretely, but backed up against something. She turned to meet the devious stares of an encroaching pirate mob.

Araly turned back around nervously and slumped herself against her unwavering comrade. The iron resolve in this fantastically elegant lady startled and fascinated Araly, as she tried to do the same. It was hard to look so tough when you were shaking so visibly.

"Please stay your weapons a moment," the woman said as she rose up to her feet, "I'm sure we can talk this all out." Her hands rustled slightly from inside her kimono sleeves. The pirate threatening her caught this quickly and repositioned his sword at her arms.

"What's in there?" The lady stared at the floor. "Take it out slow, and give it to me." The woman complied, much to Araly's fear. She drew out a knife, still in the sheath, and handed it to the pirate, who chuckled evily in turn.

"You can't pull a fast one on me, sweetheart…" His eyes traveled down, following the path his sword was making along her kimono, as he licked his lips with a smug grin. Araly could swear that under the throaty breathing of these huddled men she could hear something burning.

"Now," the pirate grinned as he pulled open the woman's robes at the chest, "about that apology." He pulled at the elegant kimono, revealing a leather chest wrap around the woman's bosom. She glared up with a smirk through her eyelashes and snapped her fingers at her side.

Suddenly, an explosion followed from the knife in the pirate's hand. The knife had, apparently, exploded, as the room was filling quickly with black smoke. Araly was stunned, thinking how the hell she got into this mess, when something grabbed her by the waist.

"See ya, boys." The elegant lady whipped off her kimono in front of herself and Araly. The coughing pirate swiped it away, where nothing stood behind it.

Araly was breathing hard, now in the clear air in the neighboring, empty building. She looked up at her captor, only seeing her rescuer instead. Skin-tight black stocking ending with soft black boots, a black leather vest that seemed to grow out of a heavily armed belt that snuggly hugged around the woman's hips. She turned, revealing the fishnets that ran up and down her arms and into the black gloves on her hands. Her face was even covered by a black mask connected to her black shirt.

"Yet another close one," the elegant lady mused. Araly's mouth dropped open as she pulled off her mask to reveal her beautiful face yet again. "You must be some kind of good luck charm, sweety." Araly stuttered, then collected herself and shot up to her feet. After a few seconds of stumbling over her panicked words, she finally managed to edge out a single question.

"Who are you?" She asked loudly. The lady stared at her for a moment, then chuckled and patted her on the head.

"I," she began, bending slightly as she stood to emphasize her greater assets, "am Lady Kaede Kurenai." She raised the index and middle finger of her hand in front of her face and winked, "Kunoichi of the Ninpo Pirates." Araly stared with shock and repeated the last words slowly.

"Ninpo…Pirates?"

* * *

Outside the open tavern wall was a young man in ragged clothing, surrounded by a group of angry and vicious looking pirates. His face was obscured by his soaking wet hat and muffler. Bard strained himself to recognize the young man, as he was sure he saw him before.

"That guy's gonna get killed!" Rezland bluntly yelled. "We gotta save him." As Rezland was ready to rush out, Bard put his arm out to stop him.

"Let him fight." Bard said flatly. His face, for once, was seriously observing the scene. Rezland moved back then broke out into a full rush to the ladder that led to the rooms. Zan observed this interaction for a moment before redirecting his attention outside.

Without any warning or movement whatsoever, four of the pirates collapsed forward, dropping their weapons to the wooden ground. The young man's head shifted down slightly before the remaining pirates started rushing forward at him. With swords held high over their heads, they swung wildly when they closed in.

The nimble young man leapt up and over the wild swings, sidestepped the downward strokes and ducked the swinging fists. He jumped up suddenly onto a pirate's face and kicked off, flying high into the air. His hand flew out powerfully and his ragged clothes were pulled off his body, revealing pitch-black apparel underneath. His face was obscured except for a streak of flesh where his eyes and a patch of hair was displayed.

He crossed his arms, pulling at something on his shoulders, then swung them forward. A short storm of kunai knives rained down on the unprepared pirates. Several more dropped to the ground in pain, others were lucky enough to either block or dodge the knives. In an instant the man was on the ground again and rushing the pirates from across the thoroughfare. His body was barely parallel to the ground, with one hand in front of his face with index and middle fingers extended upwards.

In a sudden blur, his body was floating in midair as his legs disappeared into faint images. Three more pirates flew backwards and skidded across the ground. The young man punched the remaining pirates with open palms, letting them get close enough to strike then striking back. A few more kicks and powerful blows later, the man was surrounded by no one. Only two very scared and shaking pirates were left with swords just barely in hands, but they decided to live another day and ran off.

With a sigh, the man positioned his fingers in front of his face and vanished in a puff of smoke. Zan gaped at the spectacle he had just seen. He looked up at the tall man to his side to gauge his reaction as well. Bard's mouth was open wide and drooling with excitement, and his eyes were sparkling brightly.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Bard shouted with his hands clenched in excitement.

"Thank you." A voice said from behind. Everyone in the tavern turned at once to see the dripping-wet man clad in tight black clothing perched on his toes atop the bar. He raised his hand and pulled back his black mask to reveal the face of a young man. Zan recognized his fearsome air instantly. Bard took a short step forward and faced his with a huge grin.

"Hey! Are you some kind of ninja or something?" Zan sank his shoulders at the sheer bluntness of this question.

"Yeah. I'm a Ninja." The man replied honestly. Zan glared at him with an 'are you being serious' look and spoke up.

"I think what he meant was, who are you?" The ninja in question, who Bard was admiring with low squeals, turned to the assassin. He stood up and jumped down to the ground, flipping in mid-air for effect. He stared straight into Bard's eyes, still shimmering, and smirked.

"What's your name, kid?" Bard perked up, considering to himself why someone who looked so young was calling him 'kid'.

"B-Bard D. Samekawa…and you?" Zan tried to stare them both down at once compelled to see how this idiotic display would end.

"I'm Sasuke Hayato, Captain of the Ninpo Pirates." Bard smiled widely at him, Zan looked curiously at him, and Rezland finally returned with his large weapon strapped to his back in its cloth. He waved to the group of three once his feet met ground and walked over casually. The patrons were all speechless.

* * *

"So then," the gruff man wearing a suit with iron bars running vertically from his collar to his waist, "they've started moving." The man was staring out a window that overlooked the courtyard in front of the Tall Mast Tavern where his task force of bounty hunters had just fallen defeated by a single man.

A Den Den Mushi started ringing beside him. He picked up the reciever and brought it to his mouth.

"Yes?" he asked over the line. The snail responded, gruffly, to the conversation on the other end.

"Good news, sir. The island's fog is within sight of the ship. We'll be there within the hour."

"How many?"

"We could only manage to bring four warships, sir. I hope that will be enough."

The gruff man smiled evilly under the veil of darkness that crowded the room.

"Yes, that should be plenty." He hung up the receiver and the snail clicked off. "They may take every action they like, but the end result will not change." He stood up and walked towards the door opposite the window her was watching from.

"This island will fall, for our sire himself."

He exited the room with loud, iron footsteps as the shadows shifted in his absence. A window opened and shut silently, and a huge black shadow slithered across the buildings and into the back alleys.


	18. The Storm, Part Three

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

0

Kaede sat down, still clad in her ninja gear, across from Araly, who was nervously sipping from a small cup of tea. Every now and then, the running of feet in the streets was heard over the light rain, and tactical yelling sprouted out from the houses and alleys.

Araly stuttered over thoughts, trying to make sense of the situation that Kaede had just finished describing. Bounty hunters had been planning a coordinated attack against the pirates at the island in an attempt for their leader to become a candidate for the office of Shichibukai.

In the feint pitter-patter of rain on the metal roof above them, a soft crawling was heard in the dimly lit cabin sitting room. Araly could swear to hearing a halted breathing and the light rustling of clothes in the pitch black shadows.

"Lady Kaede," Araly spoke up, "how many people already know about this raid?" Kaede glanced in the direction of the shadows, then looked directly at Araly.

"To be honest sweetie," Kaede said in a serious tone, "I doubt anyone past my crew is aware. We've been spying on the commander of the forces here for several weeks, since they formed the plan." She shifted her stare over to the dark side of the room. "Isn't that right, Hebimaru?" Araly looked confusingly at Kaede, speaking at the darkness.

"Yesss, Lady Kaede…" Araly fell out of her seat screaming and pointing at the vaguely humanoid figure that was slouching against the ceiling in the darkness. She gasped with shocked-white eyes and a wide-open mouth, still pointing and trying in vain to form an obvious question.

"Oh, relax dear," Kaede said calmly waving her hand, "this is our foremost expert on subterfuge and reconnaissance, Hebimaru. He's also our newest crewmember. What brings you here, Hebimaru?" Hebimaru let out a hollow exhalation, staring through the darkness at his senior.

"They have ssstarted to move out, my Lady. Their plan remains…unchanged" he said in a very dry and breathy voice. Araly slowly climbed back into her seat and tried to focus in on the giant man.

_He's taller than Bard is, but very skinny._ She could still only see the featureless outline of this beastly man from her sitting. Kaede was smiling, obviously pleased at the news.

"Very well then, you're dismissed Hebimaru. Oh!" She turned back to Araly and smiled. "Deary, how eill we know your crew mates from the others?" Araly stared at her for a second before she remembered Bard's rules of conduct as a Buster Pirate.

"They flex." She said hastily. Kaede's eyes tried to search for more information in her statement but found none.

"Can you elaborate?" Araly nodded and stood up. She raised her arms up and flexed, edging out a smile at the end to reestablish her fearless boundaries. Kaede chuckled before turning to Hebimaru, who seemed to nod affirmatively.

"It isss underssstood. Do not hurt the ones ssso fond of their strength. What flag do they carry?" Araly lowered her arms back and turned to Hebimaru in the shadows, thinking of what their flag looked like. After a while, the blank she drew wouldn't go away. Suddenly, a realization came to her, and an image was pasted in her head.

"Our captain has a black sleeveless coat with a golden dragon design on the back." Waiting for an approval from the strange man, she could hear the feint crawling noise yet again, and his outline vanished from the darkness.

0

It finally stopped raining. The Town Square outside the Tall Mast Tavern was abuzz with the hushed conversation between the pirates blockading and guarding the bar and the pirates trying to get in.

"Alright," Sasuke said to the gathering inside, "I know their plan well enough to stop it, but I'll need someone to help me with it." Bard, Rezland and Zan were previously deemed, along with Sasuke, the 'leaders' of the pirate's counter-strikea gainst the bounty hunters by the pirates themselves. Right now, Bard was raising his hand the highest by standing on the table.

Sasuke embarrassingly pointed to him, and Bard immediately cheered while Rezland, who was also hoping to go, slumped down to the table in defeat. Bard wasn't merciful about his victory, either, taunting Rezland from the table.

"Haha! I get to party with the NIN-ja, not you! Captain's privileges rock!" Rezland scowled heavily with his chin on the table while Zan just stared at Sasuke.

"What will you two be doing while Rezland and I defend the bar?" Zan asked. Sasuke pulled the black fabric of his ninja garb over his mouth and around his head.

"There should be at least four warships coming loaded with marines and bounty hunters to the opposite side of the island. I don't know how many will be unloading there, but I intend to stop them before they can get to the town. My team will try to block them off in the labyrinth and ambush them in case they try to attack any of the ships harbored there."

Zan nodded, obviously understanding his role. Regardless to his understanding, Rezland still had to ask.

"So what are we doing?" Rez inquired from his slump. Sasuke was already on his way out, followed closely and fanatically by Bard.

"Keep the pirate flag flying at the top of this mast. A long as the flag stands strong, the resolve of the pirates will never fade." Rezland eyed the pitch-black man curiously before he jumped over the crowd into the clearing rain, followed by Bard who pushed his way through the crowd.

"Well, you heard him," Zan said as he kicked himself out of his chair and started walking towards the crowd of armed and anxious pirates. "Let's give these guys one hell of a fight." He drew out his handblades from the back of his belt and politely pushed his way to the front of the mob.

Rez got up with a devilish smirk and rushed after him, his hand gripped tightly on the weapon strapped to his back.

0

Sasuke darted from tree to tree with amazing speed, while Bard was sprinting alongside him on the ground. They were heading for the labyrinth entrance, where Sasuke and his crew had a secret passage to the top of the crag-rock walls for easy navigation.

Sasuke pulled at an outcropping and it descended like a lever, revealing a doorway covered by now falling brush and gravel. Bard arrived in time to follow Sasuke into the door and up the candle-lit stairway to the top of the maze's walls.

From where they were standing, Bard and Sasuke could see the entire layout of the labyrinth. Every turn and twist, the heap of impassible rubble that Bard made yesterday, every exit and entrance. Bard was dumbfounded at how simple this maze seemed to him.

_I wish there were a shortcut when I tried this…_ Bard mused, as Sasuke was perched atop a rock spire. He was staring cautiously through a telescope toward the fog-shrouded forest across the maze. Through the thick fog, Sasuke could make out three large shadows floating on the water.

_Three's not a bad number,_ Sasuke thought to himself, _But this could only be another maneuver on their part._ He retracted his collapsible telescope and hopped down beside Bard, who was staring intently at one of the ships.

"So, Sasuke, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure." Sasuke was eager to hear what this giant of a young captain had to ask.

"Can you do cool ninja magic, like clone yourself?" The sheer blunt, serious tone of Bard's question forced Sasuke's face to recompose itself against the rock floor beneath him. He got up, holding his head in amazement as Bard continued to stare ahead as if nothing happened.

_Is this guy __**really**__ a pirate?_

0

"So, sweetie," Kaede asked Araly as she was rummaging through a trunk of old clothes, "do you know what you'll do?"

"Of course" Araly said, pulling out an armful of tattered cloth and dusty garments. She stuffed them all in a large bag, then threw it over her shoulder and grasped the strap. "I don't have much choice in the matter, do I? If I don't fight with the pirates, then I'm a coward and they'll think I'm a turncoat." She took a smug look out the window at the still overcast sky and clear air.

"I'll prove my worth to my crewmates, or I'll die trying." Kaede was moved to a sincere grin by the sheer tenacity of Araly's selfless bravery and valor. If she knew just how much fear Araly was holding back in her mind, her opinion would quickly change.

_Bard you moron! I'm only fighting because you're not here to protect me! If I get killed in this stupid battle I swear that I'll haunt you forever!_

She ran down the stairs and out the open door into the street, which still had several small puddles from the rain. Carrying a heavy looking backpack filled with clothes, she waited for her guide and lifeline at the moment to jump out in front of her to guide her to the safest area.

"Well, come on." A tender voice called from above. Kaede was standing, almost expectantly, on a roof above Araly.

"How am I supposed to get up there!?" Araly roared out. Kaede shrugged politely and winked before slowly turning around and pacing barely out of Araly's sight. In panic, Araly grabbed a piece of fabric from her pack and threw it up to the roof. It traveled like a snake through the air and hooked onto a gutter. Araly began slowly and arduously scaling the short, one-and-a-half story shack to the roof.

"Good job." Kaede remarked, sitting atop a chimney-stack. "We don't have very far to go, only a block or two. Try and keep up." With another wink she was off and jumping across the roofs like a cat. Araly grimaced and pulled herself up, despairing openly at the trial in front of her.

_It doesn't exactly help that these buildings aren't built at even heights, even if they are close together. If Kaede loses me and I die,_ She paused briefly to hoist herself up to another nearby roof to follow the agile ninja, …_I'll haunt her too!_


	19. The Storm, Part Four

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The Town Square, as per Rezland and Zan's combined coordination, was now fully barricaded and protected from bounty hunter charges. The only passage was purposely built to give the advancing army no choice but to walk into a shooting gallery. This plan was nearly foolproof.

However, some doubts still floated along the surface of the tense crowd. If any bounty hunters had managed to weasel their way into the militia they could easily take down any given section of the barricade from the inside and the pirates would be overwhelmed. Zan was not only expecting, but anticipating for that to happen.

Rezland and Zan, elected as the two most powerful people present, led the offensive by standing in the open and waiting for a bounty hunter attack to begin. Rezland had loaded both his guns with explosive bullets for maximum effectiveness. The weapon on his back was still wrapped in loose cloth, maintaining a mysterious cover.

"Should be anytime now," Zan stated, standing with his back to Rez. He pulled out a cigarette from his pants pocket and offered it to Rezland. He shook his head at a glance and Zan lit it for himself.

"It's the wait that's killing me." Rezland responded. The tension was almost visible in the humid air, passing from person to person and densely slithering across the wooden street. Finally, a faint rumbling was heard, followed soon after by a vicious war-cry coming from the streets surrounding the Tavern. Rezland smiled deviously.

"Alright," he snarled enthusiastically, "now the fun begins." Zan took a drag from his cigarette and exhaled a puff of smoke, keeping the stick still alight in his mouth. The bounty hunters' shouts of death turned to quizzical grunts and conversation as the rounded the well fortified alleys and roads. After circling the block to find the only unblocked entrance, the small army stopped to look at their scene.

Zan and Rezland stood side by side to face the hunters with a legion of angered and well-armed pirates behind them. The bounty hunters could feel the pressure from the hate that was bearing down upon them as the pirate crowd slowly advance with sinister glares.

"You want to go first or should I?" Zan asked. Rezland gave a smug huff and pushed him backwards as he paced over to his prey.

"Try not to die too quickly, now." Zan smirked lightly at Rez's cocksure attitude and leaned back, letting the pirates pass him by as he blended with the crowd. Rezland stopped a few feet away from the mass of surprised hunters and drew out his gunblades.

"Who's first!?" he shouted. The pirates yelled and started running forward with swords and other weapons held high. The bounty hunters took this as an opportunity to attempt a counter advance, and the two armies clashed violently. Swords slashed and guns flared as the war broke out in full force, with Rezland swinging his massive weapon in the middle of the fray.

* * *

Bard and Sasuke hopped along the outcroppings of rock to the other side of the maze, where they could clearly see the advancing army of nefarious bounty hunters. The outlines of the ships were still visible within the shroud of fog that covered the area. Sasuke stroked his chin, pondering over what they could do.

"So, what's the plan ninja man?" Bard asked as he caught up. Sasuke already knew enough of the plan to get a solid enough idea on delaying the army, but not how to stop it completely.

"Well," he began to Bard, "it won't be easy, but I have an idea that should work for us. The maze has only one reliable route to go from the forest to town, and that's to hug the east wall. If you just keep following tat wall without going into the natural docks it will bring you to town. My crew has already hidden most of the ship along that route, so if we can block the east route off then we can stall them long enough for the pirates to make some headway."

Bard was snoring, his narcolepsy had gotten the best of him and he drifted off to sleep in the middle of Sasuke's prose. Sasuke's eyebrow twitched under the black veil of his suit.

_Is this guy even remotely __**serious!?**_

Bard awoke again with a start, having heard at least enough to get a definite plan together. He was determined to help his new ninja friend in hopes that he could get him to join his own crew.

"So, if we seal the exit, they'll just be lost forever right?" Sasuke was startled at how simple Bard made everything seem. The passageways and corridors of the labyrinth itself were much narrower than the exit, and blocking it off would take far too much time that they didn't have.

Undaunted by the logical implications of his plan, Bard began eyeing a large boulder settled warily atop a mesa wall. He jumped over to the rock and walked around to find a good enough stop to secure his own footing. Sasuke followed him and watched him curiously.

"What's your plan, Bard?" Sasuke asked. Bard stroked at his chin while staring intently at the boulder. Several times he turned around to face the exit and glance at the city in the distance. After a moment of silent calculation, Bard turned to Sasuke with a smile.

"I'm gonna close the exit." Sasuke's eyes shot wide open. Bard put one hand as far down on the boulder as he could and the other pulled at a hold on its surface. He clenched his teeth and tried to lift the boulder up and out of the neatly settled dirt. Much to Sasuke's excitement and horror, Bard nearly succeeded. The boulder, unfortunately, was too far deep into the rock and Bard set it down again.

"Hey!" Bard shouted at the stunned ninja, "Use your ninja magic to cut this rock at its base so I can throw it." Sasuke stuttered out a retort.

"It doesn't work like that!" Sasuke calmed himself and pulled out a wire from a satchel on his belt. "Step back" Bard complied and stood at the edge of the mesa, while Sasuke wrapped the wire around his hand and positioned an open plan in front of his face.

In a blur, Sasuke circled the boulder and wrapped the wire around the part that was in contact with the dirt ground. He stood next to Bard with the wire ending around his positioned fingers. He quickly clenched his fingers into his fist and the wire around the rock started glowing. Then it exploded.

After the dust cleared Bard marveled at the clean and even cut the wire had made, gaping his mouth with a wide grin at his ninja compatriot.

"You're the coolest, man!" Sasuke rubbed his neck in embarrassment. The humor lifted as both of the pirates heard the marching of boots and the chatter of the bounty hunter army to the east. They had already made it this far in a short amount of time.

Without a warning Bard attempted to lift the boulder yet again. This time, without it snagging in the dirt, he lifted it clearly and cleanly over his head. He could feel the weight slowly sinking his feet into the ground as he turned towards the exit and aimed carefully.

With a powerful shout he threw the rock through the air and toward the exit. The bounty hunter's eyes were set upwards, having been drawn by Bard's loud grunt. The boulder skidded and bounced across a few smaller mountainous outcroppings before colliding in full force with the spire that Bard and Sasuke had climbed previously. The entire spire crumbled and followed the boulder with a resounding crash into the labyrinth.

Bard smiled intently at his handiwork. The trajectory and apparent stability he had trusted to pure chance worked wonderfully, as the exit was now blocked by a wall of rubble that nearly skimmed the height of the original walls of the labyrinth. Bard turned with an eager smile to Sasuke, who was stunned to the point of collapse.

"Now what?" Sasuke shook his head to compose himself and tried to respond to Bard's blunt request, but the bounty hunters responded first.

"There's tow of 'em up there! Shoot them down!" Bard jumped back out of sight as the hunters started to open fire o the both. He looked at Sasuke, who glanced back. Understanding the situation, a mutual plan was reached without a word. They both nodded and jumped across the ravine and towards the secret passage that was now open to the wind.

_First, I'll find Araly and get her to the ship_ Bard thought to himself as he and Sasuke raced towards the stairs. _Then, I'll help Rez fight of the bounty hunters in the town._ Bard turned to Sasuke as they reached the final stepping stone in front of their goal.

"What're you gonna do, Sasuke?" The ninja landed gracefully in front of the open hole that led down into the rock wall.

"I'm going to join my crew in taking this town back." Bard smiled and nodded. They both ran down the stairs with their goals prioritized. Sasuke silently mused to himself as to what a disaster it would be if Bard decided to join the fight.

* * *

Araly was leaning over herself, still carrying around a hefty amount of spare cloth in a large backpack. She had finally made it to the square and caught up with Kaede, who was watching over the battle from her chimney perch. Araly spotted a familiar face in the middle of the crowd, swinging around a heavy-looking object that had a trail of tattered cloth following behind it.

_Great. At least someone's having fun down there._ Araly noticed Kaede unsheathing a short sword from her waist and staring down at someone particular. A shirtless man with almost solid hair who was wielding handblades and hopping back and forth between sword swings effortlessly. He didn't have a scratch on him.

"You stay up here and do your part, sweetie," Kaede stated. She drew the blade up close to her face and held it parallel to her eyes. "I'll try a more direct method." Araly could feel a certain seethe in her voice. She vanished in puff of smoke just as Araly felt the impact of a raindrop on her nose.


	20. The Storm, Part Five

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Sasuke and Bard parted ways just before they entered the town's outskirts. Abandoned or ravaged pirate tents were everywhere, bullet holes and explosive scorch marks were visible in the trees and scraps of cloth; the sight made Bard sick. If he didn't hurry and do something, anything, hundreds more people could die.

Sasuke took the high road and was already deep in town, watching for signs of moving forces. From their reconnaissance work, he knew that the bounty hunters numbered in the high hundreds, leaving the pirates woefully outnumbered. Their sources also gave way to a terrifying detail: the bounty hunters controlled the town's armory.

Sasuke stopped short of his leaping when he heard the resounding blast of a cannon near the square. He was positive that the majority of the pirates were in that area, fighting off the advancing bounty hunter army. Sasuke continued across the building tops toward the dock; he still had one valuable trump card that may just come in handy.

* * *

Rez spun his massive weapon around above his head with only one hand. Every dirty bounty hunter it hit was thrown back and against the walls or into the palisade. Despite the bounty hunters' best efforts to go past him and fight the weaker pirates behind him, the range of his gunblades gave him a horrible advantage.

Zan was having a much easier time. The few bounty hunters that were able to break through the main line were already bleeding from stabs and gunshot wounds given by the rest of the fighting pirates. Zan just casually pushed the wounded morons down and ended up carrying off the wounded pirates into the bar for protection. His phasing abilities also gave a firm illusion of great marksmanship to the pirates shooting near him.

Suddenly, the air lost its weight. Zan's heightened senses picked up the delicate resonance of metal cutting through air above him. He dodged just in time to encounter his would-be combatant, a sleek woman dressed in tight black with a short blade drawn at him. They stared each other down, no one else noticing her arrival but Zan. The silence between them was broken by a charging, unharmed bounty hunter.

In a single swift motion, Kaede kicked the man in the stomach while Zan swept into the scene and kicked him in the jaw, sending him flying upwards. With a mutual glance, the two assassins got ready for more and positioned each other back-to-back.

"Who are you?" Zan inquired, staring down an angry, rushing fighter.

"Not important" the woman responded, delivering a strong blow to a rushing opponent.

"It kind of is, you tried to kill me" Zan replied, glaring behind him. She smirked lightly and continued fighting.

"I do apologize for that; I thought you might be someone different."

"So you try and slice me anyway?" Zan asked feigning anger. "You need to work on your manners, lady." The woman behind him gave light chuckle as they both worked their way into the main fray.

Rezland's weapon was slowly becoming uncovered, partly from the bashings he was giving and the sharp corners that were ripping at the cover. With each stroke and swipe, a little more metal was uncovered, gleaming in the vanishing light. Dark clouds were once again rolling across the sky, beckoning for the coming rain.

With a flash, Rezland's weapon was uncovered. The monstrous looking implement made the charging bounty hunters quake in fear at the fact that a man his size was swinging a weapon like that with only one hand. It was a sword unlike any other in the world, with a sleek blade that extended from a large gun barrel connected to a rifle butt. This was his name sake, a technological demon's weapon from the South Blue.

"Heh. Nice isn't it?" Rezland sneered at the still shocked bounty hunters. He posed his weapon over his head with only one hand holding it and flexed his muscles for good effect.

"**Hell Tiger**, that's its name" He swung it downward and grabbed the handle with both hands firmly, with one finger on a trigger. He slowly aimed at a huddled group of unfortunates and gave a final devilish sneer before pulling his finger back on the trigger.

"**BLAM!!**" The explosive force of a cannon propelled the great sword in an arc over his head and into the wooden ground behind him. The group he fired at was thrown back with such force that they succeeded in knocking out a rushing group down the street.

The remaining bounty hunters near the open street picked up the wounded bodies of their comrades and started running away. Rezland drew his sword and held it in front of him with both hands, glaring venomously at the retreating scoundrels.

"What," he growled with the blade unmoving and muscles pulsating, "we done already?"

The bounty hunters just whimpered at him and started running faster. Rezland sheathed the massive sword on his back and drew out his still loaded revolvers. Without aiming at anything in particular, he started firing down the street. The explosions caged the retreating forces in a wall of fear and forced them into the back alleys.

Once he was sure his guns were empty, Rez twirled and sheathed them yet again, and turned to meet the cheering faces of the pirate legion behind him. In a brief sweep through the crowd, he noticed that not many pirates were lost, but many bodies of bounty hunters were strewn about, the majority of which he had made. He also noticed, inadvertently, that Zan had vanished.

"Alright, we won this time!" Rezland announced, regaining the attention of the pirates. "However, we don't know how long of a break we have until they regroup and launch another attack! We should take this time to treat our wounded and prepare another solid defense!" He started walking with heavy foot steps toward the tavern, watching the scurrying panic from within as the medics and caterers prepared all that would be needed for the victorious celebration.

"We can't rest on our laurels until we're 120 percent positive that we've won this war! Who's gonna keep fighting with me!?" An affirmative shout met his request, much to his happiness. "In the mean time," he said much more calmly as he walked into the tavern, "let's get some grub." An even louder and more excited cheer met him this time. The rush of pirates that entered the tavern nearly knocked Rezland off his feet.

* * *

"Ninpo Pirates, eh?" Zan mused. After hearing the kunoichi's testimonial and the reference to one of Bard's crew mates running around the roofs, Zan had a lot to consider. "What's your plan, then?"

"I'm already confident that our captain has managed to take care of the advancing forces inside the labyrinth, and if not then our two helmsmen can easily handle them." She looked longingly towards the mist-shrouded mountains. The possibility of her captain failing to divert and trap the incoming army was looming hazardously over her head.

"What if they decided to circle the island and attack the port?" Zan inquired. Her head turned back as she gathered her thoughts.

"We are prepared for such an event, as unlikely as it is." She heard a feint explosion in the distance, out towards the sea. The unlikely-ness had seemingly lifted at that point as she felt her heart sink slightly. Zan smirked to himself at the irony, then collected himself to a more befitting mood.

"What can I do to help?" he asked the kunoichi still drowning in thought.

"If they have indeed rounded the island, we'll need someone to infiltrate their ship and make sure they can't deliver a full attack. Since all of the Ninpo Pirates will be preoccupied, it can be your job to…" Zan cut her off with a waving hand.

"Hold up, chick. I can't swim." The look on her face made it clear that she had never thought of that possibility before. She collected herself and smiled again, reforming another plan.

"Tell me then," she started as elegantly as she could, "what power do you have?" Zan smirked rather grimly at her and responded by phasing through the roof under him and into the building below. Kaede smirked back and solidified the plan to herself.

* * *

It was raining again, but very softly. This was the kind of rain that one would encounter before the actual storm hit, a preverbal calm before the storm. That still didn't mean that the ground was any safer to dash across at blinding speed, however, as Bard had previously learned. As Bard got closer to the port he heard less and less noise from the rest of the town. It seemed that the fighting had died down from earlier.

Bard's heavy footsteps as he ran attracted the attention of several patrolling bounty hunters who were still carrying themselves back to their meeting place. They decided to follow him from a distance to avoid another gruesome fight and to ensure that he wasn't going where they intended to go.

Bard rounded a corner and the bounty hunters broke their cover to pursue him. As the two rounded the corner, their faces met with Bard's rock-crushing fists and they tumbled back into the buildings across the street. Bard rushed over and grabbed them both by the collar, hoisting them over his head and glaring with grinding teeth.

"Why are you guys following me?" The two terrified bounty hunters started shaking and whimpering softly at the behemoth staring them down. Suddenly, one spoke up.

"W-we were just makn' sure you was goin' the right way to the docks. If you was taking a wrong turn we wanted to stop you's…" Bard stared daggers at the bounty hunters for a few more seconds, then applied a happy grin to his face and set the down. With a sigh of relief the hunters started on their way with a sprint.

Bard shrugged the event off as just weird and continued down to the docks, watching the bobbing and waving sails of the forest of ships as his guidance.

_Those guys were just being helpful. I should find them later and apologize._ He thought as he raced with a happy grin, unknowingly about to spring a terrible trap.


	21. The Storm, Part Six

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

A small group of four bounty hunters that managed to get away from the majority of the chaos from the town square battle were running down through the dark alleys. Although they were a safe enough distance away at this point, regrouping with the main force at the harbor was a priority for them to adhere to.

"Damn! How'd those pirates get so strong!?" one yelled to his comrades.

"We just didn't expect them to be so organized that's all!" another shouted as they ran.

"Well, we'll be ready this time!" the third answered back. "We know their strategy and we'll tell the boss about their weakest point!" the two men following gave an affirmative shout, and all three skidded to a halt.

"…There were, four of us, and now there is three." One hunter less haltingly pointed out. The eerie-ness of their current location was slowly setting in. Nothing and no one anywhere, just loose debris and some puddles on the ground with clothing lines over head.

"This place _is_ kinda creepy, isn't it?" the bounty hunter asked and turned to his comrade trailing. No one was there.

"HIIIIIIIIIIE!!" The frightened scream echoed briefly through the dampening air, followed by a heavy slap. The leading hunter had the scared one by the collar and was shaking him violently.

"CALM THE HELL DOWN, MAN!" another slap, and this time his coercing grew to a barbarous shouting. "**YOU'RE FREAKING OUT!!**"

The bounty hunter donned a newly terrified expression and shook his red cheeks. "You're right" he said with a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry." His aggressor let go of him a tunred back around, ready to continue.

"Don't worry about it. Now let's get going, alright?" The bounty hunter was talking to nothing but a wisp of dust in the otherwise barren alley. A rumble of thunder was heard, muting out the shriek the formerly manly man made as he was swept off his feet and into the air.

"And, that's four." Araly said smugly under her breath. Her traps worked perfectly, which was good news being that she already set up numerous traps in the back streets she had been to.

Her traps were laid out with an unnoticeable system of high-tension fabrics and strings that picked up trespassers by the ankle and threw them suddenly into the air. These first four had worked perfectly, and she could hear the screaming of unfortunate bounty hunters from all over the canopy roofs of the city.

"I hope that makes a difference in their numbers for now" she said worriedly as she rushed across the roofs to set up more traps. "Although, as long as I'm trying my best to help, I'm happy. And if the others aren't," she paused for a second and considered the others and how they were holding up. "Well. If they don't like me helping them then it's their problem."

She smiled widely as she leapt across an alley and started running across another roof. "I'm a pirate too, after all!"

* * *

The scene in the tavern was much brighter than what Rez had expected. Despite the injured and wounded pirates resting in the lofts above, it was an off-the-wall party down below. Beer and meat flowed through the crowd like water, the wall was being steadily fixed, the barricade was being reinforced with whatever could be found; it was officially a certain victory in Rez's book.

Although the air was hefty with joviality, the pressure of uncertainty weighed Rez down. It could be any time that the bounty hunters would strike back, and they were nowhere near ready. Another present concern was that his co-general Zan was absent, and had been for quite a while. It was doubtful that someone who was that powerful got dragged off by the attacking scoundrels.

"Alright," Rez shouted above the clamor and revelry, "settle down!" The crowd hushed almost immediately and all eyes were on him. Rez worked his way on top of a table and began his announcement.

"First off, I'm happy to say that our defensive strategy was successful!" A loud cheer started up, but Rez waved it down again. "However, we can't just defend. If we're the only honest pirates left in this city then they outnumber us vastly. We'll need to send a scouting party to check if their regrouping or planning something out there," a small hush went out through the crowd with heavy concern, "and if at all possible kill the scoundrels where they stand."

The room became heavy with worry and disbelief. Rezland didn't expect anyone to go along with a scouting mission, and he was waiting for the boos to start from his assassination speech. He looked around with a low shock that irked its way into a crooked smile. Hands were raising above the serious, smiling, and somewhat demented pirate crowd. When all the hands were up, Rez shot his into the air and ignited a firestorm of cheering.

* * *

Bard continued to jog down the dampening wooden ground alongside the churning and bobbing ships docked to the main island. With still no Araly in sight from where she could have been, Bard was getting panicky. She wasn't window-shopping or eating at any restaurants. Bard didn't even know why he was at the dock, she hated ships and bobbing water.

"Man, this sucks!" Bard eloquently grunted through his teeth. "I've gotta find Araly and get back to the boat! I can't find anyone!" Bard squinted his eyes and caught a short glimpse of a running man through the rain. If there were people in that direction, there might be a chance that Araly was one of them, so he hurried over across the boats until he caught sight of the gathering.

There were several large boats full of people talking amongst each other most of them wounded. Many unconscious men were also lying on the decks, some strewn in between two floating boats.

Bard eyed the scene form the crow's nest of a nearby ship, but not so near that these men could see him. Chances that they were astray pirates were the same as them being the bounty hunters Sasuke warned him about. Bard decided not to take chances with the latter choice and stayed in the crow's nest for the time being.

_Well, if I do see those bounty hunter bastards I'll give 'em what they deserve!…I wonder what they deserve…_ Bard knocked on the wood of the mast and formed a brilliant idea. Brilliant, that is, in his own mind. The egocentricism of Bard's colossal strength was the only fuel his brain accurately ran off of most of the time.

He stood up and silently climbed down the mast, glancing occasionally to make sure no one was watching him yet, and rushed several boats over to the one he had eyed only momentarily from the top. It was sturdy, barely moving in the ocean waters, and most importantly to Bard's plan of attack: the mast looked sturdy as all hell.

Without considering the logical ramifications or even possibility of his weapon, Bard made his way stealthily across the bobbing road to the heavily armed ship, still unnoticed by the bounty hunters. The hunters in turn nervously stirred at their prospected meeting. The leader of their movement against the city itself was about to reveal himself in person, and rumors were flying like locusts among the savages.

'I heard he ate a man's arm off!' 'I heard his entire body is coated with iron from a horrible accident!' 'Have you heard? He got his name from the weird armor he wears' '…it looks like a prison cell walking at you from a distance' '…and that's why they call him "Lockout" Dean…'

"Alright, soldiers, listen up!" one voice yelled above the rest from a central ship's bowsprit. "The boss is coming here, so get your stories straight! The Pirates ambushed us from within out own ranks. Not only that, but there was a ton of friendly fire on our part, and that's why we lost and why we have so many wounded! Any questions?"

Several men raised their hands, but the man announcing already dismissed himself and hopped over to a smaller ship from the galleon he was standing on.

"Sir," on concerned voice said, "wouldn't it be better to tell the truth?"

"WHAT TRUTH!?" the leading man spat back venomously. "That a single man and a batch of stupid pirates screwed up the whole plan in less than an hour!?" The obviously hystarical man came within an inch of his quizzical partner and continued explaining, this time in a much more frightened and ominous tone.

"'Lockout' is a demon among men! He's the strongest pirate in the region, with a bounty of over 100 million Berries! Do you know what a monster like that would do to maggots like us? Break us apart and use us as spoons to eat his devil soup that's what!!"

The man receiving the fervent rant gulped loudly. Both, and all the bounty hunters, turned at once to a noise of wood splintering thunderously, followed by a loud roar from someone several ships over. In the short distance, the army beheld a ship's mast timbering over on its side and slowly moving away into the fog that closed around the dock.

* * *

Sasuke had been following the ship's movement to the smallest increment. With what small amounts of detail he could make out from the silhouette against the dense fog, it seemed to be a warship. Since no marine ships came within the main dock's firing range without a white flag or suicide wish, there was no doubt that this one belonged to the hunters.

Sasuke cursed lightly under his breath and vanished in a shroud of smoke, only to appear a visible distance away. He stood at the top of a stone spire carved from the dense rocks and ocean tides, which jutted from the water between a sheer cliff and an even taller spire. It was here that the Ninpo Pirates, feared throughout the Grand Line by the World Government's highest ranking officers, has set up their ultimate weapon.

Positioning himself perfectly straight, as an extension of the spire itself, Sasuke made his signature hand sign. The waters below him started to churn violently, and the spires both started to rumble and seemingly loosen from the rocky floor. Below the churning tide was a machine bearing the Ninpo Pirate's Jolly Roger, a skull in a black mask with swords in place of crossbones.

Sasuke smiled smugly under his black veil. The underwater whirlpool machine, the Kappa, would make quick enough work of the warship before any major damage could be done. Suddenly, the roar of cannon fire was heard from the docks. The feint whistling of cannonballs through the air, and soon after the shrapnel exploding from the rock tower from where Sasuke once stood. The rock started falling into the water, directly over the water-churning machine.

A grim figure walked silently away from the cannon that was still smoking from the shot he had taken and slipped into the shadows. Were the Ninpo Pirates uncovered? With the whirlpool machine in danger, will the bounty hunters be able to successfully pillage and destroy the rest of the city? What will the outcome of this torrid battle be?


	22. The Storm, Part Seven: Homerun!

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

'Lockout' Dean, a notorious bounty hunter from the North Blue, stomped down the wooden street with a legion of masked guards in tow. It has been rumored that this man was once the warden of a Marine prison far north in the North Blue, but he one day snapped and started fighting with all the prisoners. His rampant and berserk ended up in a court marshal, after which he became a freelance bounty hunter to exert his terrible force on his own terms of the law.

His fellow hunters followed in black-and-white stripped masks with eyeholes torn in them. The masks were the only matching features that these men seemed to have, being of totally different builds and carrying different weapons with them. In the gathering fog near the wooden harbor, only the mild outlines of the bobbing ships could be seen.

'Lockout' stopped mid-step and turned around in a flash. The legion halted its march at the same time and faced the devious stare-down of their leader. Dean started pacing across the front line of soldiers slowly, eyeing them all down under the shadow of his hood, waiting for even the smallest increment of movement. One of the men in the back row started to sweat.

_Oh crap…_ the unfortunate man thought, _my nose itches._ Every man on Dean's personal guard squad knew that these surprise inspections were literally life or death. If even a single hair moved out of turn, the owner of that hair was shot instantly, no question and no remorse. Several men had already died in just the last week because they didn't know the extremity of 'Lockout's' methods.

_Come on, nose, stop itching! Stop itching, stop itching stop itching stop itching. Please!! STOP ITCHING!!_ As the man continued chanting in his mind, the brutal leader of the force started walking toward the back row of unmoving men with a fiery glare. _Good gods above, please don't let this happen to me! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!_

As if on some godly cue, the loud thudding of some person's feet sounded from around a mist shrouded corner. A silhouette stalked into scene, and the menacing man halted his impromptu inspection just as the nervous man started twitching his nose fervently.

"Yo!" a man's voice sounded from beyond the fog. "Are you guys pirates or bounty hunters?" Dean snickered and started walking slowly forward, keeping a hand on a gun behind his back.

"Which are you, stranger?" The fog was now parting slightly, to reveal the man who was speaking to the legion. Short yet flowing blonde hair, a sleeveless jacket that ran down to his shins, and a playful smirk under a serious brow.

"I'm Captain Bard of the Buster Pirates!" Bard announced proudly with his fist on his hip and his other arm covered by the mist. The masked guards started reaching for their firearms with out word, only to be stopped by their superior. Dean had a hand aimed at his loyal guards as a signal to not move.

"Well, we're bounty hunters" Dean said very proudly. Bard's smile extended across one side of his face and he gave a half turn to increase the seriousness of his pose. "So you're gonna come with us, dead or alive, and whether you like it or not." Bard chuckled under his own breath, then started laughing over the quiet rain. Soon, he was laughing hysterically as the bounty hunter made a slow approach.

"I don't think so, old guy." Bard said, finally dying down his laughter. Dean's confident smile regressed into a menacing scowl at the comment made by the young man. "In fact, I've been looking for some bounty hunters to beat up, so you're lucky! Or, you're unlucky, depending on how you look at things." The smugness emitted from Bard's face brightly enough for Dean to see him perfectly through the fog.

"Alright then," the menacing man with the thunderous voice yelled, "make a move! If you want to fight me, then I'll let you throw the first punch!" Dean planted his feet firmly in the ground and threw off his raincoat, revealing his Iron-bar chest plate. This is why he was called 'Lockout' Dean; his vital areas were completely locked from damage thanks to his trademark armor.

"Alright then, thanks!" bard said politely. He took a massive, high step forward with his right leg and grabbed something with his left. His torso twisted around, and a low groan of air moving rapidly thundered down the street. Each of the elite guards shook from their masks to their unmoving feet.

"Baaaaaard…" The object Bard had curled under and over arm was coming into view slowly through the dense fog. It seemed to be a log of some kind. Bard stamped his foot down towards his enemy and propelled his body into a turn with every muscle he had.

"**HOMERUN!**" Finally, the weapon was in full sight. Bursting through the mist with a terrifying boom was a large mast, presumably from a ship, that was quickly accelerating towards the paralyzed Dean. All the soldiers had mouth gaping wide and eyes white with fear. Then, contact. With a horrifically loud boom, the far end of the massive bat smashed into Dean's armor, which served no purpose anymore.

Bard continued to spin into his swing, sending wooden shrapnel flying off as the mast broke off near where he was folding it. It a dazzling finish, Bard kicked his legs and spun in mid air, flexing his arms as the rest of the murderous attack connected. Time slowed down as 'Lockout' Dean blacked out and started to lift off and out of the ground. Time resumed its normal speed, and the elite troops started running at top speed from the rolling log of death that was stampeding down the street.

"How's that for a punch?" Bard said smugly, the mist now swirling around him like a cloak of air. His mid-air pose stopped as his feet planted back to the now torn up wooden ground. The still unconscious and now bleeding Dean lay on the ground, unaware of just how much trouble he was in once he decided to wake up.

* * *

Rez led the party of blood-thirsty pirates through the alleys and across the streets, searching for any signs of bounty hunters. Some of them, unintentionally, were springing the traps that were used to protect them. The group was getting exhausted from constantly running and annoyed at the lack of desirable game.

"Damn" Rez cursed softly, "where'd all those punks go?"

"We should look down by the docks" A female pirate announced. The group slowed down and stopped at the exit into a street. Judging by the signs and stores, they weren't very close to the docks yet. They had heard a cannon firing earlier, but that was a while ago. Rez decided on an easy way to get his bearings.

"You guys wait here," Rez said to the pirates. They nodded and stood still with their weapons in hand and ready to use. Rezland mounted a gutter pipe on a nearby building and started climbing up. The rain had made everything rather slippery, but the metal fixtures served as good enough foot holds. Rez's strategy worked right up until the pipe started splitting away from the house it was attached to, due to the combined weight of Rez and his gunblade.

Rez hit the ground with a crash, but still stood back up and tried again on another house. This time, the windowsill gave way and a miniature garden followed him to the ground. At this point the pirate group was on the very edge of exploding with laughter. The seemingly brilliant super-general that led them to and early victory was stumbling over himself like and idiot. At the next thud the group bursted out laughing loudly, and Rezland got pissed.

"SHUT UP! LET'S SEE YOU DO BETTER!!" The lady pirate who had announced her plan stepped forward, still laughing with the others, and shimmied up a pipe with ease. She tried to die down her laughter and gather herself long enough to stand up straight and spot a landmark.

"Can you see anything?" Rez shouted from below. The lady gazed around to find something, anything, in this dense fog. She could spot the towering Tall Mast, and used it as a compass.

The docks were on the south side of the Artefatto Coast and the mast was in the middle. Surrounding the city to the east and west were the mountains. The pirate could see the outline of the mountains through the mist, so she turned and face the docks. An odd whirlwind of mist was flying through the air not to far away from the group.

"I think I see them!" the woman shouted. Just then, the sounding of fearful screams started to echo down the street. A small group of terrified looking men wearing black and white masks came sprinting through the fog and back into obscurity, followed by a large log that was bouncing and rolling after them.

The pirates just stood and stared wide eyed. Rezland moved first, slapping his forehead with an open palm.

_I have a hunch about this_ he thought in an internally painful voice. _A very bad hunch, I'm sure_. "The docks are probably that way, so let's go." Without a word of objection, mainly from surprise and shock, the pirates followed after a slowly pacing Rezland with his head turned down. "That idiot…" he said under his breath.


	23. The Storm, Part Eight

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Araly watched the rolling mast chase the bounty hunters from the rooftops with and expectedly bored face, as if she'd seen it all before. She ignored it and started back on her journey to the square, where she hoped to find the crew that could take her in to safety, and she hurried. The rain was picking back up again.

She was out of fabric to use to help her get from roof to roof, but at least she was light again. The backpack was still clinging to her back and weighting her down just enough that every jump seemed dangerously short. The rain was starting to very slowly clear the fog, so she tried to spot the Tavern from where she was.

"Ah!" She exclaimed smiling. A long, tall, dark silhouette of familiarity rose up from the clearing fog. Before she started sprinting, she considered her actions carefully. The possibility that the pirates were still fighting the bounty hunters was lingering in the air. Her loneliness and exhaustion won out however, so she made a compromise. "I'll just get close enough so that they'll see me, but I'll stay on the roof."

* * *

The bounty hunters in the maze were completely flabbergasted. According to their maps, they should have left at least seventeen times by now. Every potential exit was either sealed or led nowhere. Tensions were running high as the army of anxious men started to randomly wander about. Every once in a while, another group would unite with another, but there were much fewer people in the growing groups now then when they had started off.

The largest group casually walked down a wide ravine in the maze, unknowing of their comrades' fate. Every finger was on a hair trigger, and every sword was already half drawn. Every man was sweating and walking slowly, twitching occasionally.

Rounding the corner ahead of the group were two men, armed with swords. One was slightly taller with black hair in a ponytail and thick sideburns down his stone-cold face. He was wearing a sort of robe that was tucked into some wide pants that ended in wooden sandals. One sword in each hand, with one pointed downwards and the other resting on his shoulder.

The second man was smiling deviously. He had short hair with a long but thin ponytail in the back. He was wearing a plain gray shirt with 'CrImInAl' printed on it and similarly large pants that were tucked into boots. He dragged his sword, longer than he was tall, along on the ground behind him.

"Oi, Musashi?" The short one said.

"Yes Kojiro?" the man named Musashi replied.

"Have you been keeping track?"

"Yes 27"

Kojiro gasped loudly with an equally wide mouth "27! How in hell did you get that many already? I've only taken out 25 of these punk!"

"It doesn't matter," Musashi replied calmly, "because we are working toward the same goal."

"It does too matter," Kojiro seethed. "I have to be the better swordsman!"

"Hey! You two!" One eager bounty hunter yelled. "Are you two pirates or what?"

Musashi and Kojiro looked at each other, then started walking apart and towards the group. Kojiro closed his eyes and threw his weapon onto his shoulder, as Musashi paced slowly to the group's side.

"Well, it doesn't really matter," Kojiro said with a smug smile. "I can still make up for lost ground now, right?"

"Hey! Answer us, dammit!" The same hunter now demanded with his gun pointing. "Who are you with?" Both men stopped having gotten to their respective positions to sandwich the group of hunters.

"That information," Musashi began calmly, "is irrelevant to a corpse." Musashi pointed with his one sword directly at the man who had been speaking with the other resting still on his shoulder. Kojiro had his massive sword aimed directly at one poor man's throat as he held it loosely with both hands.

The hunters started to quiver and whimper, none wanting to break the momentary peace of the silence. Finally, the silence broke as one hunter started screaming and charging with his sword held overhead at Musashi. Then, the screaming was silent. Musashi was beside Kojiro across the threshold of bounty hunters with both swords pointed to the sides.

"Show off." Kojiro spat.

"28" Musashi said while he got back into his previous pose. The hunter that had charged him crashed down to the ground from the air with white eyes of fear and a nasty series of cuts on his torso. The hunters looked down at their comrade, then back up to the deadly pirates. The commander of the hunters clenched his teeth and raised his own sword.

"KILL THEM!" With that order the hunters charged at the two samurai, who stood silently and analytically before the incoming wave of men that were already dead to them.

"I can beat you, but it won't be fun." Kojiro said jokingly.

"Fun is irrelevant as long as we win" Musashi replied.

* * *

The army of bounty hunters was getting anxious. No word form the group that was supposed to press from the labyrinth, no sign of their terrifying leader, no pirates were even trying to attack directly. It was boring and murderous on the minds of most of the hunters. Those still unconscious shook in terror as the memories of that brutal attack flashed through their heads.

The storm was already picking up, as was apparent by the building waves that crashed steadily over the outlying ships. All of the wounded and most of the ready men waited inside of their respective ships so they wouldn't get sick, but the churning waters were brining in a new sickness that they couldn't get rid of easily.

A rushing of stomping feet was heard over the soft but building sound of the rain. One hunter picked himself up from his drunken stupor and waddled over to the side of the boat he was on. He cupped a hand to his ear to listen carefully, now positive that someone was coming. Within the next second, however, his body started shouting at him that standing while intoxicated was a bad idea and the man quickly overcame to what he thought was motion sickness.

"Here're the ship! MOVE IT OUT!" A reckless voice shouted. The reply was a chorus of 'Aye aye's and 'Roger's. Feet started stamping quickly across the wooden decks, and the last thing the drunkard pirate remembered was trying to look up at what was hitting him with something metal.

"Booyah!" the overly excited female pirate shouted as she finished beating up another defenseless bounty hunter. A small explosion was heard one ship over, so she rushed over to see what was going on. Through the fog she could see six figures tentatively pacing around one man swinging a giant, thick looking sword over his head.

It was Rez, who had just finished wiping out the forces that had been occupying the ship previous to his entrance. These six men were now deeply regretting coming over to try and help the others, as this new opponent was just too good. Suddenly, Rez threw his weapon up, still spinning, and quick-drew his smaller gunblades.

Six shots in the frame of less than a second, long before the hunters even knew they were shot. The last image that met with the frightened men was the fading shot of the young man that fell them catching and effortlessly sheathing his massive weapon. Rez smiled and jumped over and across to the adjacent ship to join up with the men that were about to ravage it.

"I could've done that" one pirate jested. Rez smirked and chuckled.

"Oi! They've brought friends!" the female pirate shouted from a ship or two over. The rest of the pirates raced over that heard her and looked to where she had been pointing with her rifle. The dark shadow of some huge vessel had sneaked up on them and infiltrated the outer harbor. It was a warship, the worst case scenario. Rez sneered and prayed that someone had a plan for this.

* * *

The Kappa, the Ninpo Pirate's ultimate subterfuge weapon, was still intaking and outputting water underneath the already churning waves, but at half the pace. Such a speed would be insufficient to creating any kind of current significant enough to alter the course of a warship.

Sasuke, having escaped certain death by the hair of a frog, had laid himself on the ground to breathe for a while, but the constant stream of doubtful thoughts gave him no peace. How had he been discovered? Is it possible that the Ninpo Pirates had been uncovered at some point and some renegade moron was trying to stop them? At a length, Sasuke decided that he had no answers to his questions and assumed only the worst: They had lost.

"Captain!" a female voice called. Sasuke sat up and looked over to see the his beautiful first mate, Kaede, racing over along the ragged mountain rocks. "Captain, are you hurt?" She whined.

"I'm alright, I just got shot by a cannon. What about you?" Sasuke asked sympathetically.

"I'm glad that you're okay. And I assume that because you are here the samurais are in the labyrinth, correct?" She continued. Sasuke nodded and looked out to sea, right at the warship he had failed to stop.

"What will we do, Kaede? The lives of countless pirates and years of progress are about to be wiped out." Sasuke somberly mused. Kaede giggled softly to herself. "Huh? What's funny?" Sasuke asked.

Kaede pointed out to sea and Sasuke's eyes followed her. He gasped openly under his mask as he saw something in the water. Something that renewed his hope of victory and rekindled his ambition into a building ember.

"No way!" he exclaimed. He was observing, if his eyes were correct, a man in a rowboat rowing out to confront the warship in the water, and it seemed as though he had gone completely unnoticed. Sasuke couldn't hold himself back any longer, and joined Kaede in a brief bout of laughter. There was hope after all.

* * *

"Dammit!" Zan cursed. "Of all the frickin' thing's she has me do, I gotta row all the way out here." He grunted several times in time with his rowing motion and continued to complain "and without and cigarettes!" Zan muttered under his breath as his tiny boat crept ever closer to the comparatively colossal warship.


	24. The Storm, Part Nine

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Dean twitched once. Then once more. Then his whole body started to shake as he raised his arms to feel around at his horridly shattered ribs. Thankfully, his ribs were still in solid pieces, although most likely fractured. He hesitantly and shakily raised himself back up to his feet, tripping once and landing on his fist. 'Lockout's' eyes were wide and flaring with anger he hadn't felt in a very long time.

"Well?" the young man's voice sounded out not to far away, "what now, old man?" Dean looked up slowly and threateningly, bearing his blood-spattered teeth. Bard was hopping to-and-fro like a boxer with one fist at his chest and the other swinging rhythmically at his waist. He was smiling and bright eyed, further pressing Dean into a homicidal rage.

"…" Was Dean's angry response. He glared with a heated passion, as if his glare itself would stir the misty air. He watched Bard, the young object of his blood-lust, with terrible menace. He just couldn't wait to rip into Bard's flesh and flay him with bare fists.

In the middle of Dean's mental ranting, Bard disappeared.

"ORA!" Bard screeched as he sunk his fist deep into Dean's exposed face. Dean, now completely awake, repaid Bard by grabbing onto his arm and using the kinetic force of Bard's own punch to throw him down the street. Bard wiggled himself into a proper position as he flew through the air and skidded down the wooden streets on his hands and knees with his head down. The ground, however, was still rather slick, and Bard was stopped as he rolled onto his back ad bounded back up to his feet with a smile.

Dean started charging down the street at Bard, unwillingly giving him plenty of time to search for a weak point.

_His armor is pretty funky_ Bard thought as he concentrated hard on his opponent's movement. _It's way to narrow for me to punch, but I bet if keep my hand flat and get him under the ribs, I can get him staggering again. Once he's off balance, I'll give him a good kick to stay down with and wait to see if he gets up again._ The time came, as Dean was very closely upon a ready and smiling Bard. With straightened fingers, Bard thrusted his hand with every available muscle through a narrow slot in Dean's armor. Bard's hit connected with only more metal, and his face was connected with Dean's fist.

"OW! CRAP, OOOOW!" Bard screamed as he staggered backwards. Dean continued at an unbroken pace and delivered a hard kick to Bard's stomach. Bard slid back and continued to cradle his possibly broken fingers, apparently unaware that he had been hit twice now. Bard's eyes shot up to try and study his opponent's armor once again, attempting to find the flaw that nearly bent his hand backwards. It seemed that Bard's opponent had a cracking plate of solid metal shielding against his skin.

"EYES UP, YOUNG FOOL!" Dean had closed in while Bard was studiously analyzing his opponent, but he was ready. Dean launched another punch to Bard's face, which was dodged and intercepted between Bard's biceps and forearm. Dean continued his attack, attempting a quick jab with his free arm. In mid-swing, Bard's other hand caught the fist and clenched it hard. Bard looked up with a devious grin across his bruised face.

"Bard's New Move!" Bard said enthusiastically. He raised his right leg up and placed it perpendicular to Dean's barred stomach and tensed it up. _It's the same basic principal, I guess_ Bard thought at the last minute, throwing the final minute touches on his new impromptu finisher. "Super…" Bard started as his leg started to draw back almost against Bard's chest. Dean tried his best to back away from the obvious attack, but was caught fast in Bard's hold.

"**SORU-STOMP!**" Bard's leg moved back and forth so fast, even he couldn't follow it. The bars started to give way, and seemed to be melting against the sheer force and speed of Bard's kicks. Dean could feel the pain slowly creeping his way as his body shook uncontrollably against the sheer force of Bard's attack. Finally, a very audible crack and shatter was heard, followed by the muffled cries of pain from the dementedly outmatched bounty hunter as bard's leg began to pummel against bare skin.

Dean flew back willingly after he wrenched his arms free from Bard's insane grip and slid back onto his knees, holding his stomach as if his guts were about to come spewing out. He gasped and tried to focus on the wooden ground, watching the thick rain drops from his head and splash onto the ground. As his vision stabilized, he saw the rain underneath him turn slowly red.

"Hooo!" Bard squealed, kicking his leg up in the air and slowly brining it back to the floor. Steam shot up as the rain made contact with his pantleg and boot. Bard assumed a new, more arrogant pose, with both hands open and thumbs folded inward, pointing up against his sides. He shot one open palm forward and faced the edge of his bladed hand at Dean. "Next round, old man" Bard half-growled. Dean looked up with wildly shaking eyes and a bloody, grinning mouth.

"Sure" he replied menacingly as he steadily rose up to his feet and prepared. This would be a truly mad fight.

* * *

The elite guards of 'Lockout' Dean were staggering down the street, now in half of their original numbers, trying to find some sign of allied presence. The mast was still rolling along after them, but at a pace they could easily crawl away from. Most of them were moving on momentum and the grace of the gods that let their bones not break yet. None of them could breathe normally, from all of the running and screaming they had been doing. Finally, some hope glimmered in the distance.

The bounty hunters rushed along with a second wind, trying not to drag their feet. They could hear the feint sounds of people talking amongst themselves. Soon, the faded vision came into focus, and the bounty hunters were staring down the wrong ends of a solid legion of gun barrels wielded by pirates.

"'Sup, guys?" one pirate asked jokingly. The pirates were smiling murderously at their enemies, who were just now coming to terms with their fate and raising their hands over their heads. The elites fell to their knees and started to cry lightly.

"Avenge us, Sir Dean…" one poor elite mumbled as the pirates encroached upon him with rope and wood.

* * *

"MARCO!" yelled one man as he hit another on the head, "THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" The man who received the hit, Marco of the Buster Pirates, rubbed his new wound carefully and looked back up tentatively. The rest of the Buster Pirates were staring daggers at him for, once again, getting them lost. And in the woods, no less.

"Yeah, well…" Marco started as he formed his excuse on his feet, "those back roads were tricky, and that fog was _way_ to foggy! How was I supposed to know where I was going?" Marco pleaded. A group of five very muscular pirates shook their heads synchronically.

"We're ashamed of you, Marco." The tallest and meatiest one said dejectingly. "You've forgotten yourself yet again. We aren't the same pirates we were only a few days ago." The group started flexing their muscles and growling loudly. "We're **Bard's** Buster Pirates!" The huge man roared as he flexed and posed over the others.

"We must find and aid the captain!" another grunted out.

"You guys are idiots, y'know?" Marco rebutted.

"You're the idiot!" one shouted. Soon enough, the entire crew was arguing among themselves over who was and wasn't stupid and whether or not to just start heading back. As they all exchanged insults and retorts to those insults, a creature stalked them in the dark of the woods. The brush rustled and the branches shifted from the rain and wind, then a loud hiss was heard. All the pirates fell instantly silent. They started looking around with paranoia.

"Shh…" Marco hushed. "Something's out here" he whispered. All the pirates started drawing their swords and loading their guns, moving tightly together. Those without weapons just darted their eyes about and flexed menacingly.

"Just like Marco to get us lost _and_ in mortal danger" one pirate whispered softly in Marco's direction. Marco seethed under his bandana and waited for something to happen. No noise for several moments. Not even the rain was sounding.

"It must've left" one burly pirate announced. Everyone became slightly more lax afterwards.

"I guess it got scared of us!" the muscular leader proclaimed. Again, however, the hiss was heard. This time, it was much louder and no one was able to spring into action. A dark and narrow form was lurching about in the shadows.

"Haaaah…" the creature hissed in a hollow voice. "Thy lives are gone" it lowed. The pirates became agitated and re-readied themselves to defend.

"Yeah right, ugly!" Marco shouted from the front of the line. "No one messes with the Buster Pirates and gets away with all their bones! Ready!?" Marco raised his sword, prompting everyone capable to aim their rifles at the slim figure in the darkness. "AIM!"

And with that whatever the phantasm was slithered away into the darkness. Marco and the pirates stood with curious looks at the now empty scene. One rifle was fired and the rest turned to the trigger-happy pirate.

"Sorry" he goofily shrugged. Marco sighed and motioned with his hands for everyone to follow.

"C'mon, guys. Let's find Bard and see what we can do…"

"Aw, no," the overly-anxious giant man shouted as he tackled past Marco. "We ain't following you no more! Bard's Pirates, HO!" his four cohorts cheered 'HO' with him as they ran off through the woods. The rest started jogging to catch up and vanished into the darkness.

"The Buster Pirates are allies in thessse desssperate timesss, sssso it hasss been decccided…" the slithering figure spoke to himself as he watched the pirates rush off noisily. "Now, to reconnoiter with my kinsssmen and lend my helping hands to our campaign…" With that, the lanky giant slithered off through the shadows and towards the now brightly lit city. The underhanded ace of the Ninpo Pirate's information network had wonderful news to deliver indeed.


	25. The Storm, Finale

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"ORA!" Bard shouted as his fists moved furiously.

"HH-RAHH!!" Dean shouted back.

The blows were exchanged between them at speeds untraceable. Their arms and hands turned to blurry movements as they crossed and countered with the force of two runaway trains plowing through a mountainside. Neither one had a definite advantage as of yet. Bard was taking plenty of hits, but Dean was still weak from Bard's Soru kick. The hooks and crosses wouldn't stop and neither would take the mindfulness to block.

They both snapped their legs and pushed away from their conflict to catch their respective breath. Dean eyed the young man down to try and find some physical obviousness that he could exploit, like a bruise or an apparent fracture. This man didn't even look winded to him. Bard was breathing, surely, but not as hard as Dean was.

Suddenly, Bard disappeared. A puff of smoke replaced him, which quickly dissipated in the dying rain. Dean stopped breathing for a second and raised himself up. His head darted around, trying to follow his still untouched eyes, looking for a hint of his opponent. The fatigue he had worked up from the fight and staying standing was catching g up to him, as his mind continued to repeat the image of that puff of smoke no matter where he looked.

"You little bastard," he growled angrily, now spinning slightly in place. "Where are you!?" Dean shouted into the sky. The rain continued to splash in the puddles and off the metal roofs. A rumble of distant thunder was heard as Dean started punching down the walls of nearby houses. "WHERE ARE YOU!?"

Bard was at least two blocks away, standing in the middle of the street with one knee on the ground and on hand ready to push forward. He breathed out calmly and looked up. The distance wasn't that hard to cross the first time, so a subsequent dashing attack shouldn't be to hard. That was the theory, at least.

"If I miss," Bard mused quietly, "I don't get another chance…" He took an extra second to aim and wait for the perfect moment to move out and strike. Dean was still dancing around madly and flailing his arms, obviously a little damaged in the head from the rampant beating he had taken, in the distance. Bard kept calculating and calculating his trajectory and his power so he wouldn't miss, until Dean finally turned at him.

"**Soru!**" Bard blazed forward, almost invisibly, at an aware and screaming Dean. Their eyes where both white and their brows were both furrowed. Both men looked the same, but one was about to get hurt severely. Bard had his arm back and ready to hook, where as Dean, in his rage, pulled out a metal pipe from the torn-asunder wall of a nearby shanty. Bard saw the weapon, aimed dangerously at his stomach, and veered himself away at the last moment. Dean thought he had won, he thought he had avoided Bard's attack. Bard thought so too, but he refused to give up. Just before Bard was completely past his opponent, he extended his arm back and grabbed Dean with a tensed palm to his face.

"H-rmph!" was all Dean could grunt out before his body started screaming through the air with Bard. The buildings became hazy blurs and the rain pelted hard against Dean's exposed head. The pair started slowing down, which Dean took as an opportunity to try and disable Bard further by grabbing his extended arm and firmly planting his feet into the wooden street. The wood splintered violently beneath him as both men went tearing in tandem down the street in a blur.

Bard's feet, along with his whole body, were parallel to the ground, which was closing in on him and the ever more wounded Dean. The raindrops became like daggers as they sped along, with Bard kicking his legs to increase his speed. The end of the artificial island turf was nearly ended, and Bard prepared for his next step, which he just thought of. There were at least twenty ships directly in front of Bard, which meant that Bard would have to apologize to at least twenty pirate crews.

* * *

Bard raised Dean up and floated along for the last few meters and held him out as a shield. Then Dean's mind went blank as his head collided with the first of many main masts that were in the way. The wooden column was blown apart at the bottom and the two slowed down. Bard planted his feet and grabbed Dean's ruptured cage armor with his free hand and pressed hard in the direction of the next mast, plowing through both outer hulls of the ship he was on and the next.

This continued up until nearly the last ship, when Dean regained consciousness and proceeded to disable Bard with a swift, if underhanded, kick. Bard coughed and stopped his relentless offense to curl up and roll to the edge of the last ship dock in the harbor. Dean was barely alive as it was, but he still stood up and prepared himself to continue the fight. Something, however, plagued his mind, and he couldn't concentrate on keeping his blood and bones inside his body until he could get it out.

"Why, child?" Dean asked the still writhing Bard. "Why are you a pirate?" Bard perked himself up and jumped to his feet, seemingly over the pain.

"Because if I stayed a Marine, I wouldn't have near as many adventures!" Bard said excitedly as he caught his breath. "Plus," he continued, preparing himself to fight once again, "if you're a pirate you can fight with anyone and not get punished for it!"

"So, you want to become a strong man?" Dean asked as his breathing steadied. Bard caught his breath and positioned himself at the edge of the not-yet torn apart galleon.

"No, I'm already the strongest!" Bard declared triumphantly. He kicked furiously and vanished in an instant coming eye to eye with Dean. "I just have to prove it now!" The unwavered Dean received a swift and stern punch to the face and started drifting through the air yet again. Another sharp blow from behind changed his direction toward the mast, and a barely audible utterance of 'Soru' made his world go black yet again. Bard sailed through the air with the unconscious, bloody man in his hand and looked down at the swashing waters below. His hand went limp, releasing the heavy parcel of a man into the murky ocean as Bard's body gave out as well.

Dean sank down through the waters, his mind reflecting back to the old days when he had the same reckless ambition and tenacity as Bard. His childhood as the son of a great policeman, his first day on the force, his first major failure and horrible consequences of it. The demotion, the re-instatement, the title of Warden that he was honorably charged and discharged with; the first bounty head he caught, and now his life seemed to be over. It was a hollow feeling that seemed to overwhelm his paralyzed body as he sank, ironic in that his hollowness was forcing him even deeper to his death.

The last feeling that overcame the man was the chilling haze of the frigid wind and the warm grasp of someone's hand.

"You're way to cool to die here, old man!" Bard said as he hauled his opponent onto his back and proceeded to swim toward the docks. Bard was smiling widely and peddling hard, ecstatic over his own victory. "I know! I'll jump to the docks!" Bard prepped his legs and aimed himself up, tightening his grip on his limp opponent. "**Soru!**" Bard's unmeasured power made his Soru in the water become a 'Geppou' high into the sky. Bard's face became deadpan and his mouth widened across his jaw as he and the heavy Dean started slowly floating through the air.

* * *

"Get those cannons loaded!" a bounty hunter yelled. The inner hull of the evil warship was rousing with activity and motion. Bounty hunters scurrying about like rats, carrying heavy cannonballs and harpoons to be fired at the hapless little shantytown. One bounty hunter was staggering with the weight of a single cannon ball dragging on the floor. As the other hunters moved up to the next level of the ship, the weakling was just reaching an unloaded cannon.

"Oh please," the hunter whined, "no one help me!" He pushed the ball up along the side of the cannon with all his back and legs yet still struggled hopelessly. "I got this all on my own!" He shouted through gritted teeth. Suddenly, the weight dropped from the ball and he watched as a helpful hand slipped it into the cannon. The hunter slumped down and sighed with relief. "Oh, thanks man. I appreciate it." He turned around. A dagger sank quickly into his back.

"No problem, guy" Zan said smoothly as he let his victim's body fall limp to the floor. _You're kidding_ he thought. He was analyzing the routine and organization, as well as the mechanics of the warship and its cannons since he boarded on the sub-basement level. Each cannon seemed to be operated by a remote detonator that was, mostly likely, held by the captain or commanding officer. _This is an insult to my skills_ Zan continued as he turned the cannons upside-down and pointed them at the floor, as he had done below.

_Such lackluster guarding and ridiculous order…what a farce of an attack._ Once he was finished overturning every cannon on the floor, Zan proceeded to phase up through the ceiling and onto the next floor of the multi-layered ship. The bounty hunters were still rushing about, prepping weapons and cannons for the main assault as the ship started to slow itself down and raise its sails. Zan had gone unnoticed so far, and his lucky streak just might continue all the way until his mission was finished. Zan whispered a battle prayer to himself before phasing completely upward.

"Killing time!"


	26. Reuniting and Always Fighting

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"Yeee-okay!" Rez shouted. He turned around, put his fists on his hips and gave a confident smile. Then he shot one thumb up and said "We're screwed!" His fellow pirates didn't take to kindly to his presumption.

"YOU DAMN KID!" Never say die!" "Get down from there, you'll fall off!"

"I was just kidding!" Rez shouted back playfully. This time someone threw a wooden block at him. He glared around for an overly innocent face but only saw serious pirates. He cleared his throat and prepared to speak again. "We can do this if we try! You guys go get some row boats and we'll get alongside the ship in no time."

"Then what?" the only female pirate there asked.

"Then," Rez said with a hint of nefariousness, "we can take 'em by surprise…" He unsheathed his duel gun blades and twirled them dramatically up to his face. Once his guns were still, he growled out "…and mess them up for life."

The pirates cheered, happy to hear the news that would let them take and permanently cripple some bounty hunters. All the pirates, excluding Rez and the woman pirate, rushed off to find some boats. The woman walked up to Rez, who hopped down from his perch on the bowsprit of the outer-most ship.

"You're okay, kid" the woman said.

"Thanks. You're not too bad either, I suppose." Rez thanked.

"You mean, for a woman?" she chided.

"Nah." Rez responded. "I've known plenty of strong girls. It's no real surprise for me to see a woman captain anymore."

"How'd you know I was a captain?" the woman asked.

"I've been fighting for and against pirates all my life." Rez explained confidently. "I've learned to spot the strong leaders pretty easily." The woman shot him a smile from the corner of her mouth and started walking away. "Hey!" Rez called out. She turned on her heel to face him yet again, him standing with his arm outstretched and his palm open.

"I'm Rezland 'The Duelist' of the Buster Pirates." Rez said. He raised his head up with a smile. "Let's meet again in the 'New World', 'kay?" The woman gave him a cynical stare, but chuckled it away into a smile and connected her hand with his.

"I'm captain Lisa of the Rainbow Road pirates." Her grip tightened as a sparkle appeared in her eyes. "Someday, I'll be the Pirate Queen." Rez smiled at her in turn and nodded. Lisa dashed off to follow the other pirates while Rez went the other direction to look out at the slowly clearing fog on the ocean surface. The waves had all stopped splashing and the water was still.

_Something very bad is about to happen,_ Rez thought, _or nothing will happen._ His eyes caught sight of a dinghy being pushed out from the massive cluster of other ships and being rowed by the pirates towards the massive warship. Rez smirked and started running down and across the ships to try and catch it. He also couldn't help but notice that most of the main masts had gaping holes or were completely broken and ready to snap off.

"These guys obviously don't take pride or fame from their ships" Rez observed. He jumped over a ship's deck and made a dive next to the dinghy. He resurface and shook off the salty water, making a paddle for the departing little boat.

* * *

Within the maze, the two Samurai geniuses of the Ninpo pirates, Musashi and Kojiro, were finishing their duty to their captain. The final body count: Musashi 281, Kojiro 272. Kojiro was decidedly pissed and sulking across the canyon with his massive sword strapped to his back.

"Kojiro!" Musashi called out. Kojiro didn't move or respond. "Come! Let's head back to the ship. Captain Sasuke should be finished with his job by now." Still no movement. "How much longer until you're done being emo, Kojiro?" Kojiro twitched and turned around with a demonically enraged face.

"I'M NOT EMO!! I'm just being wistful…" Kojiro went back to his pouting on his seat made of the bleeding and wounded bodies of his victims.

"Then 'wist' back on the ship, please," Musashi said with a slightly annoyed tone. "We can't let Captain Sasuke become disappointed with us or he will never forget it…"

Kojiro tapped his finger on his arm impatiently. At length, he stood up and walked after an already proceeding Musashi. The hands of the bounty hunters twitched with paranoia, lest those horrific two come back swinging.

"I heard that!" Kojiro shouted from across the expanse of the canyon. Every conscious bounty hunter turned with terror in that direction, praying they weren't heard. Kojiro was taking mighty swings at Musashi, who was in turn blocking them with one sword while nonchalantly walking into the mist. The hunters sighed and continued to feign death, most passing out from the sudden rush of stress.

"Hmm." Musashi grunted as he casually sidestepped Kojiro's advances. "Those bounty hunters are still awake."

"Who cares?" Kojiro seethed, "They'll be dead soon enough if they can't get outta here, right?"

* * *

The continuous rush of feet echoed through the shallow puddles and narrow alleys as the Buster Pirates, thirty-odd strong, stampeded their way back into the downtown. The streets were barren, but loud shouting and gunfire could be heard in the distance. Marco was at the head of the pack, with the obliviously loyal pirates racing behind him.

"Are we there yet?" the leading muscle inquired. Marco turned his head slightly to answer.

"No, you jack-ass. There's nowhere to be!" Marco shouted angrily. Still, they jogged onward, hoping to see something worth inspecting. Suddenly, a group of screaming men in tattered suits and armor came charging from another street. Both groups stopped and stared at each other for a moment. Marco took a step forward, and the entire group across the way took a step back and cowered.

"P-pirates…" one harshly whispered.

"PIRATES!!" the rest of the group ran screaming away, while the Buster pirates just stood dumbstruck and watched. Then, with evil smiles, they chased the retreating bounty's hunters down. Marco led the crew in a battle shout as they down the street. The bounty hunters rounded a corner and proceeded a few more seconds before resuming their screaming.

"KURA!" was heard from around the corner, coming from a juvenile mouth. The Buster Pirates rushed over as they heard the sound of blows landing and bodies pounding against the ground. "Oh, you too? I GOT ENOUGH FOR AN ARMY!!" the familiar voice blared again as even more bodies went flying. Marco was the first around to stare and gape at the scene, followed by the remaining Buster crew as they all rounded the bend.

In the middle of the chaotic carnage stood their towering captain, Bard, with the limp body of another man draped over his back. Bard was holding the body with one hand and his other was in a fist. His legs and arms emitted thin steam in the cool air. Bard perked his head up as he noticed his entire crew that had just come into view.

"Hey guys!" he shouted and waved. "Where'd you come from?" The pirates stood and stuttered with a response, fixated on the numerous bodies their captain had, literally, single-handedly dispatched. Marco shook off the surprise and was the first to speak for the group.

"Are you okay, Captain?" he asked. Bard blinked and smiled widely.

"Of course I am." He replied confidently. He took the liberty to flex his free bicep and his chest while still holding the limp man to his back. "How can a body like this not be okay?" He raised his flexing arm up and took a light step forward to flex his leg as well, all the while holding his smug smile.

"Who's that guy on your back?" another pirate questioned. Bard turned to another profile pose with both arms flexing this time, inadvertently dropping the still unconscious man to the ground. The thud produced reminded Bard to the old man's existence and he picked the body up.

"He's the head of the bounty hunters, I think." The pirates were first shocked, then angry as they glared daggers at the body of the man who had caused so much trouble in less than a day. "But don't worry. I kicked his ass pretty good, so he won't wake up for a while." Marco walked forward and offered to take the man with opened arms. Several other pirates rushed in after he was flattened by the heavy man's armor and carried the dangerous rag-doll off.

"Well," Marco said as he got back up and brushed himself off, "I guess our work here is done then."

"Nope" Bard said plainly. His crew looked at him curiously. "I think we're just getting started here…" Bard turned around to face an empty street. Dark silhouettes started stalking out from the shadows in all directions. Seconds later, the Buster Pirates were darting their heads around furiously to see and army of black-clad, iron glove and mask wielding bounty hunters. Bard parted his legs, sank his body low to the ground, and placed a fist on the wooden island flooring. His other arm he kept extended behind him with curling fingers and a fiery glare above an anxious smile.

"Ready, men?" Bard hissed. Marco, along with the rest of the pirates, reached for their swords and guns and all flexed in unison.

"AYE AYE, CPATAIN!!" they shouted in synchronous. The black army started its descent as the pirates started their hot-blooded charge. Bard grinded his fist hard into the wood and aimed for a condensed group of the assassins, then he smiled deviously. With a good many solid kicks within the frame of less than a second, he rocketed forward in a hot blur.

"SORU!" Bard cried, and plowed into and through the front line, all the way behind the advancing forces. The bounty hunters turned around to an evil smile and prepared charge as Bard got ready to go it again.


	27. Devided we Lay the BEATDOWN!

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"Well, well, well," Zan said mockingly. He paced to the side and stared down the evil looking man, V-shaped in muscles with a jagged goatee and a ski cap on, who held in hand the Den Den Mushi that would fire the cannons of the warship. He was the last bounty hunter left alive on the ship after Zan's rampage and sabotage. He didn't know that, as the only bodies he had seen thus far were the ones Zan had just finished making.

"It seems that my short quest has ended" Zan taunted tiredly. "My goal is in sight, and the key is in my hand…" He raised up his arm and pointed with a bladed fist. "…now I just have to open the gate." He rotated his wrist with a snap and charged forward. With a one-legged hop he was across the deck and in striking range. The warship captain whipped out a small ball and threw it to the floor. Zan swung a second too late, and the bomb set off a huge puff of white smoke.

"Fool!" the high-voice of the gruff man shouted from outside the smoke. "How can you fight me now, I wonder? Heh-heh!" Zan didn't move. He crossed his forearms and began to sink downward. Once below deck, he stalked over and away from the smoke cloud above. Positioning himself to where he assumed his opponent to be lurking, Zan jumped up and swam through the wooden deck.

Sure enough, as Zan slowly and silently grew from the wodwork, his enemy was firing blindly into the smoke cloud with a pistol and laughing. "Heh-heh!" the hunter laughed mockingly. "Now you're full of holes!" Zan just stood behind and smiled as he watched the bullets get rapidly wasted. Then, deciding the sadness had reached its limit, he walked over while the hunter reloaded his gun and stole it. As the large man turned around, Zan casually threw the gun overboard and smirked.

"Man," Zan started as he drew his arm back and opened his palm, "you guys aren't very good at this, are ya?" Before the man could scream, Zan attacked. "**Phantom Grip!**" Zan's hand slid through the man's chest and right onto his heart. Zan grasped the gooey organ and the man gasped loudly in shock and pain. "**Race!**" He gripped and relaxed the man's heart rapidly, building speed and pumping massive amounts of blood through his body. Soon after Zan started his assisted heart attack, the man coughed a splatter of blood and fainted. Zan retreated his hand slowly and watched as the hunter fell to the floor.

"Endgame" Zan said deviously. He paced over and took the Den Den Mushi, still sleeping, from the man's hand and started away to the side of the deck. As he neared the edge, the boat violently shook and jerked, forcing the assassin into a tumble. Zan caught his fall with his hand and flipped back to his feet. He half-phased his legs into the floor and trudged over to see what was happening. The ocean currents had changed from when he boarded and the island was significantly smaller than before. "Oh…dammit" Zan cursed. The warship was drifting out to sea, into the Grand Line, with a Devil Fruit user aboard…not good.

* * *

Back in the pirate town, Bard and his Buster Pirates continued to fight viciously against the staggering odds. Although the crew itself put up a great fight on their own, Bard was dominating the battlefield. Each punch he threw sent bounty hunters flying, and each kick shattered bones and splintered wood. An elbow jab, a strong left hook, right hook, finishing off with a straight-legged kick, and a whole legion of hunters would fly away screaming. Bard would stomp his foot back down hard to the ground and flex. If they weren't unconscious after all that, the concept of another beat down would floor them.

"Oh, Come on!" Bard shouted whinely. "Try actually fighting instead of standing around like jackasses!" The hunters winced and tried to turn, but the Buster Pirates were already closing in with swords and pistols armed. The hunters decided to take their chances with the crew instead of the captain, but still got floored faster than they could keep up. When the fight was over and the smoke had cleared, a triumphant shout rang out through the alleyways from the crew.

"YEAAAAH! You don't mess with uuuuus!" Marco shouted with his arms up and flexing his muscles. The rest of the crew joined in shouting to the sky and flexing, as was their traditional salute. Bard flexed his chest angrily with crossed arms and a scowl.

"SHUT UP!" Bard shouted over his crew. Everyone stopped immediately and looked over at him. "It's not over yet…" Bard said menacingly. The crewmembers looked back and forth at each other with worry. "As long as there's even a slim chance that more of these jerks are here, we have to pursue them with blind, unyielding fury, and smash their FACES IIIIN!!" Bard reeled back his arms and arched his back upon finishing his little rant and shouted. His crew still looked at him curiously.

"Well," Marco started as he stumbled out of place, "the rest are probably on their way via warship, or something…" Bard turned around and stomped hard into the wooden ground. Then, with a tenaciously evil grin, he prepared to run.

"**SORU!**" Then he was gone. A large blast of wind followed going in the direction of the docks, knocking over some of the lesser-prepared pirates and knocking open a few doors. Marco stared off in wonder at the water droplets that were split from the ground in waves from where Bard had dashed off.

"huh, You guys!" a girl shouted from above. The crew looked up to a roof, expecting another enemy, but saw a dainty little girl bent over and breathing heavily. In between her loud breaths, she tried to speak out to the pirates below. "We…need to get…away from here…They're going to…to start firing soon…b-Back to the Tavern!"

"…" was the crew's response.

"It's me!" the girl shouted. Still no response, so she cleared up all the confusion. "Araly!"

'Ah!' 'It's that girl!' 'It's Bard's wife!' was the mixed response. Araly slumped and made a sad face over the crew not even vaguely remembering her.

"What's up, Mrs. Samekawa?" That was the line for Araly, as she attached a roof tile to one of her custom made ropes and gave it a good wing right into the inquiring pirates forehead. Everyone turned to her with mixed reactions of horror and innocence.

"I heard from another pirate here that the bounty hunters are planning to launch a attack at sea." Araly explained. "They have a huge warship filled with other hunters and armed down to the last nail with enough firepower to level the island!" The Buster Pirates started staring past her with building horror. "We need to get to the other pirates and evacuate the city while we still have time! Now come on!" She looked down to see all the angry pirates pointing guns pointed at her. "W…wha-what the heck, guys?"

"Don't move, Araly!" Marco shouted. Araly was about to cry from grief and started to back away until she bumped into something leathery. The leather turned into a silken feel in an instant.

"Move away from the girl, freak!" Another pirate shouted. Araly turned around slowly and looked straight up and the tower of a man clad in pitch black. At least twice her height, wrapped tightly all over his skinny body with black, and an elaborately designed metal mask on his face. He gave out a long, hissing, hollow sigh and bent over at the legs to confront Araly eye-to-eye. She stared straight up, he looked straight down.

"Misstresss Kaede hasss given me a missssion, Missss Araly" the figure said in a familiar voice. "Might you be interested in aiding me?" Araly shook her fear away just long enough to nod shyly and squeak affirmatively.

* * *

Sasuke and Kaede raced down the final stretch of the slope and back into town. Sasuke hopped down onto the wooden ground and looked around warily. The rain was gone again, no bounty hunters were in sight, many ships had broken masts, many huge holes in the ground down a street…_What the hell happened down here?_ He thought with very curious eyes.

"Captain!" Kaede shouted. "Look!" Sasuke followed Kaede's pointing finger across the length of the dock to a mysterious, cloaked figure leaning against a building. Sasuke squinted and attempted to make out the figure, but got nothing pasts it's multiple layers and heavy hood. Sasuke reached around his back and drew out his short blade in defense.

"Let's go, Kaede" Sasuke ordered. Kaede crossed her fore-arms and spread her fingers. Throwing knives appeared from her skin-tight suit and she grasped them between her fingers. Both set off in identical blurs down the harbor, towards the mysterious figure that was shambling towards them with one outstretched arm and a glowing, evil smile.

* * *

"Oi, Musashi!" Kojiro sounded out. Musashi turned in his place, guarding the entrance to the natural dock they were inspecting, and went dashing off towards Kojiro.

"What, Kojiro?" Musashi yelled once he came close to the boat. A crash was heard, wood was sent splintering upwards from the ship's deck, and a body came flying towards the curious samurai. Once the dust cleared, Kojiro was next to his comrad and leaning on his sword with a bloody head.

"WE…got company!" Kojiro said in distress. He pointed up and Musashi's eyes followed. Stepping from the smoke and steam from onboard the tiny ship was a terrible-looking man. A man wielding a shovel and a lethal gaze…


	28. Monsterous Surprises at Every Corner!

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The dinghy full of pirates knocked gently against the side of the warship. Rez and his impromptu crew had at least a five-story climb ahead of them. The sheer inversion of the slope and the smooth wood pannaleing wasn't a promising prospect. The pirates all stood silently as they comnemplated their plan of attack.

"You first, man" one said. Soon after, an argument broke out across the waves with all the pirates in their little ships. Rez just sat and brooded while everyone was yelling and looked up. After too much noise, he pulled out his gunblades and started to climb up, piercing holes as he stabbed his way upward. The pirates watched him and caught on, each trying to make a foothold by stabbing into the warship's hull.

"What's this ship made of?" one pirate yelled after his sword bent from hacking futilely. Even bullets from guns couldn't fully penetrate the hull. Everyone looked up with renewed impression at the young man who was effortlessly scaling the ship up to the top.

Rez reached the deck first, and flipped over the rail onto the wooden floor. There were bodies everywhere, holes in the wood, cut marks; it seemed that Rez's group was far too late to help at this point.

"Yo!" a voice called out from the front of the ship. Rez darted his head and saw the spectral image of his acquaintance Zan perched casually on the steering wheel and smoking a cigarette. "You're late!" Rez snarled at first, then turned it to a challenging smirk.

"Yeah?" Rez retorted, "Well at least I'm here! Where were you all this time!?" Zan smiled and pointed down. Rez didn't bother to respond by looking and started pacing up to the upper deck to join Zan. "Everyone else is down below" Rez explained as he sat down.

"Who's everyone else?" Zan asked. Rez mimicked Zan's pointing and Zan hopped over to the side of the deck. Several small boats full of awestruck and aggravated looking pirates were bobbing peacefully away from the warship. Then Zan remembered. "Oh yeah, we're gonna die!"

"WHAT!?" Rez shouted.

"The ship's floating out to sea and I can't stop it" Zan calmly explained. "Why do you think I'm having a smoke instead of doing something else?"

"…You like to smoke?" Rez answered. "Besides, you're probably just to weak to steer a ship this size." Rez walked over and tried turning the steering wheel. Nothing but loose play. It didn't even seem to do anything at the moment, so he hopped back down to the deck and started opening and shutting doors. Zan rushed over and leaned over the rail.

"What're you looking for?" Zan shouted.

"A whip staff to steer with!" Rez answered. "A ship this big should have an emergency steering mechanism for emergencies or for sneak attacks, you know?" Zan hopped down to the deck and started running about as well. The ship rocked violently as it ran into the rocks and crashed against the swelling waves.

"We better do something quick!" Zan shouted over the noise with his feet partially phased into the floor. "I can't swim!"

"WHAT KIND OF PIRATE CAN'T…" Rez yelled. He stopped because he not only found the whip staff, but also because he saw Zan's feet, or lack thereof.

* * *

Within the boundaries of the great rocky maze, Musashi and Kojiro were locked in a losing battle with a mysterious man from an unmarked ship. His graying-black hair flowed in lazy streaks through the air in a warrior's ponytail. Scars were spotted all over his finely cut body. His eyes shone brilliantly with a murderous intent beyond belief. Musashi and Kojiro were facing a trained and true killer, with a shovel.

The man shambled robotically down the maze path, ignoring the men in his way. Those men, however, weren't ignoring him and prepared again for his furious advance.

"Oi, Musashi?" Kojiro said breathlessly.

"Hmm?" Musashi replied.

"What's our plan here?" Kojiro asked as he backed away. "We ain't exactly dealing with a normal hunter…or pirate it seems."

"Indeed" Musashi huffed. "This is a level of power the likes of which I have not seen in quite some time."

"Not since Mihawk…" Kojiro added. Both samurai stopped and readied their defenses. In a flash, the man blasted forward, ripping the air thunderously with shovel pointed forward. Musashi was able to stop the metal just short of his face and dashed back quickly. Kojiro used the opportunity to swing his massive sword at the man. He stopped it with one finger and pushed it down to the ground with a thud. Kojiro was stunned for a moment, then retreated as the man continued to walk.

"Could this man be…?" Musashi mused quietly. Before his thoughts could conclude themselves, the walking man disappeared again. Musashi and Kojiro both defended wincing against a huge rush of air that traveled down the rocky corridor. They both cautiously opened their eyes and looked around. The man had blasted straight past them and was now rounding the corner to a dead end.

Kojiro and Musashi looked at each other for a moment. Kojiro was confused, Musashi stern, and they both dashed off together. No sooner had they rounded the corner then a huge blast of rubble and dust knocked them back. The last visage of the man vanished in the rushing smoke from the rock wall with his glowing, steel-blue eyes.

Musashi shouted and swung both his swords at once, clearing the air around him and Kojiro. Kojiro shouted likewise and thrusted his sword straight upward. The dust and smoke in the air shot up through the air and hung over them both like a cloud. Both men started panting and looked on at the loose gravel that was once an elaborate looking wall of solid, huge stones.

"That was him, wasn't it?" Kojiro asked. Musashi cupped his chin and stroked at his beard lightly in thought.

"It could have been" Musashi answered. The rampant path of wonton destruction was a characteristic of that man. "Doubtlessly" Musashi declared as he sheathed his swords. "We should follow after him." Kojiro nodded and they dashed off and warily over the gravel mound.

"You think he'll kill us?" Kojiro joked as they wadded through the tiny rocks.

"We'd be dead if he really wanted to," Musashi pointed out. "He is, well _was_ one of the Yonkou."

* * *

Sasuke and Kaede clashed harshly with the robed figure. Both their blades were swung at the same time, and the person blocked their attacks with a return of metal under his cloth. Both parties dashed back, with the ghostly figure to charge again first at Kaede. She readied her knives and blocked a hard swing of connecting metal and was sent skidding backwards on the ground.

"Ninja Art!" Sasuke shouted out. He held his sword in his mouth by the blade and made his ninja sign, cupping a fist with the index and middle fingers of his hand extended. "**Ninja Blitz!**" In a huge billow of smoke, ten identical Sasuke's stood side by side, all pulling up their respective masks. The figure stopped short and looked over at the group.

The Sasuke clones mobilized and shouted their battle cries. 'Move out!' 'Falcon Dive!' 'Eagle Cutter!' 'Mantis Rush!' With marvelous speed, the Sasukes rushed and overwhelmed the mysterious figure, pushing it far back. Although it was able to defend every stroke with a likewise motion of the arm, Sasuke still held the advantage.

"Right," Kaede said to herself. She stowed her knives from her fingers into the holsters around her shins and reached up into her hair. She pulled out two hands full of foot-long needles and her hair went flowing fluidly. "I'll follow suite, I suppose." She said with a grin. She crouched down and jumped up high in the air with her arms crossed and ready to throw.

The Sasuke clones quickly circled around the figure and deployed their ninja ropes. In no time at all, their target was immobilized and exposed to Kaede's attack from above. With the ropes anchored into the ground and nearby buildings, the multiple Sasukes exploded into smoke and only one was standing again a good distance away.

"Now, Kaede!" Sasuke shouted. Kaede kicked in the air and started spinning quickly as the cloaked figure struggled below.

"**Cicada Storm!**" she shouted as she let her needles fly. All at once, they contacted the cloaks and pinned them down to the floor. No bodily substance within the cloak was seen as Kaede fell gracefully back to her feet on the wooden ground. Sasuke looked equally confused and glanced over at Kaede.

"Well," Sasuke started, rubbing his neck, "you hit it." Kaede looked over and smiled briefly. Then she saw the same figure, behind Sasuke with flashing claws and a maniacal smirk. Her face turned to that of angry horror, which Sasuke noticed and tried to pivot around quickly. The claws came down hard and scraped Sasuke's leg as he jumped away. Then the figure jumped up with an explosive gust and continued through the air to the top of a ship's mast.

"Captain!" Kaede called as she rushed over to the wounded Sasuke. He stopped her short and lowered to his knee. With a fiery hatred, he glared up to the man atop the mast, as did Kaede. "…not him again" she seethed.

"It seems so" Sasuke growled. He shakily stood back up and faced the figure in the mist above. "That is the man who drove us all out of the New World…the man who killed Captain Shoga! That scoundrels bastard who has taken so much from us all!" Kaede could see her captain's anger like she had never seen before, and she looked up in awe.

A giant set of wings and gleaming claws for fingers adorned the man at the top of the mast. Sasuke stepped forward in time to see the golden beak across the man's hybrid face before his wings started to beat the wind under him.

"**AGUILA!!**" Sasuke's scream echoed through the damp air and across the city streets. Rising above the noise was the sound of thunder and the cackling laughter of the retreating man as he flew away. The Shichibukai from the New World…

* * *

"Alright!" Bard exclaimed with glee. "All lined up." He had just finished projecting his trajectory for his newest plan of attack against the warship: use 'Soru' to build speed and ram into it, thus knocking it over. In Bard's eyes, it was utterly foolproof! The main defiance of the basic laws of physics, such as running on water, were slight details that he chose to ignore.

"O-kay…" Bard said as he stretched his legs. "I can only do this so many times." He placed himself in sprinting position, with his right leg forward and his left fist on the ground. The streets were just dry enough that the puddles wouldn't detour him too far off from his target, but his main problem was farther down. The one variable that he had wasn't calculated into his mind yet: the shipyard. Regardless of what flaws there were, Bard was ready to try.

"**Soru: Hellrush!**" In a blazing flash, he was off and kicking down the street. In but a second he would hit the docks, then the water, then hopefully the warship itself.


	29. With Legs that Bend the Light, Rush On!

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

Author's Note: Regarding the currently unfolding story arc in the manga. If someone in Oda's story has the same Fruit as one of my characters, ignore them and pay attention to mine :D

* * *

"Really?" Rez said dejectingly. "You're really a user?"

"Well," Zan said bashfully, "if you put it that way you make me sound like a weirdo…" Zan smirked across the beam at Rez as the waves swayed him around. With the whip staff in heavy hand, Rez and Zan steered the ship closer to the shore and further into the beating waves. The dinghies below were restocked with pirates and turned away from the advancing warship steered by their commander and friend.

"I sure hope we don't get sunk!" Lisa shouted over the waves and laughed heartily. The other pirates grimaced and continued rowing at full pace.

"NOT FUNNY, CHICK!" one pirate yelled. "How about helping us row so we _don't_ get hit!?" Lisa fell down to her butt and leaned against the short rail of the small boat.

"Nah, I'm good" she said lazily.

"How are you a captain!?" shouted the entire boat. Suddenly, something shot past the dinghy at blinding speed and knocked the boat at a near perpendicular angle to the churning waves. The boat didn't capsize, but the resulting wave did tip it on its side, flinging all the riders out into the salty water. From behind the fleet of overturned dinghies thundered out a massive **THUD!!**

Rez and Zan took a brief moment to look at each other with deadpan faces as the floor started slanting backwards. Rez slid slightly towards the door, while Zan didn't move at all. Another moment passed before Zan defused and started out the door.

"HEY!" Rez shouted as the whip staff began moving on its own. "Where the hell…"

"I'll see what's going on!" Zan shouted back. "You keep us on course!" Rez sneered and fumbled to keep the staff from moving anymore. Zan rushed out on deck and looked over the edge, careful to keep his feet at least partially in the woodwork. Standing on the rail of the upper deck was a towering figure with crossed arms and a tilted head. Zan saw the shadow from a flash of soft lightning and looked over. With a chorus of rumbling thunder, Bard's image came into plain view with a curious expression.

"Weird" Bard said quietly to himself. "I guess this ship's a lot heavier than it looks…" He hopped down with his finger on his chin and began casually striding his way across the deck. "Lot's of bodies…must've been a party."

"Hey there!" Zan shouted. Bard darted his head around and Zan raised an arm in greeting. "How'd you get here?"

"Me?" Bard said seriously. "I ran. I'm trying to knock this ship over, but to do that I need…" Bard continued to ponder until an idea brightened his head. He took a good, long look at the main mast and walked around it several times. He sized it up, angled it appropriately, and then nodded with a triumphant smile. "Can you steer the ship?"

Zan pointed at himself comically and nodded.

"Good!" Bard shouted, flashing a positive thumb up. "Turn this ship sideways to the docks!" Zan looked confused. "Then get ready to sink or swim, because I've got a plan to tip this rig." With his dastardly juvenile smile Bard hopped away and over the deck with a quick salute farewell as he plummeted downward. Zan rushed over to check on him to see if he was okay, but saw nothing below.

Likewise, the floating pirates were confused as all get out as they tried desperately to overturn their boats and paddle the rest of the distance to shore.

"That was weird!" Lisa shouted from her seat on the underside of her former ride. She just finished ringing out her captain's hat when the pirates had mustered their strength and flipped the boat halfway. She hopped up and kicked it the rest of the way and rested comfortably down as it steadied out.

"Weird nothing!" one pirate shouted. "This water's cursed or something!" As they all spat out the salty water and continued to drift out from each other, the water parted strangely yet again, this time from Bard's unnamed method of swimming quickly underwater. "…paddle…" muttered the frightened marauders of the high seas.

Zan popped back in the room with Rez to redirect the ship as per the crazy young man's request. "Turn it ninety-degrees!"

"To where?" Rez shouted. Zan put his hands in his pockets and pulled out a cigarette and lighter, his previously lit one being victim of the rain and water.

"Doesn't matter," Zan said as he paced out the door again. "This ship's sinking…" Rez stared after him dumbstruck and somewhat angry, but turned the ship regardless.

"If I live through this bull…" Rez started under the crashing of the waves and roaring of the sea, "I'm drinking until I can't see anymore!" He dug his feet into the solid marine-grade wood and steel and turned the staff til it bent. The ship turned sharply to the right, much to the shock of the fleeing pirates.

"What's he doing!?" one shouted rhetorically. Lisa watched on curiously and pondered that very question with a finger to her lip as the other pirates rowed her to shore.

* * *

Hebimaru sped along across the rooftops, bounding several houses and whole blocks at a time toward the bordering hills. Araly rode along on his back, hanging on for dear life as the wind whipped by furiously.

"I should tell you right now," Araly shouted, "I get seasick very easily!"

"Fare enough" Hebimaru hissed. "We only wish for you to keep a sssteady eye…"

"Well, that seems easy…" Araly said with relief.

"…underwater" Hebimaru finished. Araly's eyes went wide and her brow furrowed. She looked over at Hebimaru's iron masked face with the unmoving, straight-ahead eye.

"Are you kidding!?" she shouted. "I'm not a fish, or a mermaid! Why would I agree to do that!?"

"Lady Kaede requesssted you by name" Hebimaru calmly replied. His jumps became shorted until he was standing straight up like a human pillar on a large, half-crumbled rock formation. "She wasss posssitive of herssself that you could accomplish thisss tasssk."

_That hissing's getting annoying… _Araly thought, trying to keep her mind off of the supposed task ahead of her. "What do I have to do underwater?"

"Sssupposedly nothing" Hebimaru admitted. "She wishes for you to guard for her."

"But she's the experienced ninja…person" Araly whined. "What kind of weird priorities do you guys have? Find someone weak to guard your own super-strong crewmember!?" Hebimaru reached his long arm around and carefully placed the girl on the ground in front of him. With his massive legs bent and his huge back arched, the tree-sized ninja knelt down and faced the frantic girl.

"Lady Kaede can only do ssso much alone," he started, "and all of us are otherwise busssy. Myssself excluded, she decccided that you are the only fitting person to help usss right now." Araly looked at him with slight worry and curiosity as he rose back up and prepared to turn and jump away.

"But why not you, then?" Araly asked. Hebimaru turned his head and plainly replied

"I can't ssswim." Leaving Araly dumbstruck and full of questions, he leaped away and vanished in a blur of black. Not soon thereafter, another blur appeared and landed down near Araly. She shielded her eyes from the rising dust, which gave way to the slender feminine form of Kaede herself.

"There's no time, sweetie" Kaede started in a rush. She shuffled her hands behind her back and pulled out a small capsule. "Brace yourself and eat this" she commanded. Araly took the pill and eyed it worrisomely. Kaede pulled out one for herself and swollowed it, cringing and shaking as it slid down her throat. Once it was down she jumped off into the water below. Araly shook her head and put on a serious face.

_I'm being asked to do something important,_ she thought encouragingly to herself. _Not just by any random woman, either, but someone from another pirate crew! Maybe if I do a good enough job helping her do…stuff, she'll agree to ally with us or…something…_

Araly gulped the pill down without effort and jumped without hesitation. "Although, I may die if I do this…" from the middle of the jump to the splash at the end, Araly's scream echoed through the air.

Once in the water, Araly cringed and held her breath with her eyes shut tight. After a few seconds of fearful fetal crouching, Araly opened her eye slightly. She was sinking downward in a perfectly clear sea. She could see the waves cresting above, the massive ship in the distance with the many smaller ships retreating from it…which was odd. She looked below and nearly gasped, seeing a huge metallic construct in the form of a frog with a pirate emblem painted on the back.

Kaede was down at the construct's mouth with a piece of rope in hand that came from its mouth, beckoning her over. Araly kicked up and started swimming downward. Kaede pointed over across the thing's mouth and made a grabbing motion. Araly looked over and saw a similar piece of rope, floating upwards. She nodded and swam over. Grabbing the rope, she looked over and mimicked Kaede's stance with both hands firmly holding and legs ready to lift up. Araly glanced over and waited for Kaede. She nodded, and both women started pulling upwards with all their strength. The 'Kappa's' mouth slowly creaked open, and the water started violently churning from it.

* * *

Sasuke dashed back across the mistless town in search of the tavern where everyone was waiting. He hopped along across the rooftops with dazzling speed until he noticed someone doing the same. He rushed over and both figures went to the ground, one nearly three times the size of the other.

"Hebimaru!" Sasuke exclaimed. "It's good to see you after so long."

"Likewissse, Captain" hissed the giant. "I have relocated the Bussster girl with Lady Kaede" he reported.

"Excellent" Sasuke said. "If I could reconnoiter with their captain and debrief him this will all be…" Sasuke was interrupted by a phantasmal figure spinning into scene. As the colors of black and peach and golden stopped blurring, the statue-esque man with the muscles that crumble mountains stood in the open streets. Arms down, feet equal distance apart, chest loose and head slowly rising up from the ground, Bard D. Samekawa!

"YEAH!!" Bard shouted loudly as he broke his calm stance and shot his foot up. Then it came crashing back down onto the wooden floor. He resumed his previous sprinting stance and stared straight ahead, down the clear fareway, at the tiny warship far away on the water as the glistening sunlight came shining over the sea.

"**SORU: BUSTER RUSH!!**"

And before the two ninja-pirates, he was gone. Even the light seemed to bend after him as he reached the docks within mere seconds of heading out…


	30. Victory! Morning finally Comes

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Max walked a razor line down the beaten, dirt path. The sun's glare focused his gleaming eyes like shining lasers that stared blankly into the horizon. His dirty shovel reflected the light all around him like a prism, casting shimmering beams of rainbow colors on the trees and nearby buildings. Musashi and Kojiro were walking in tandem far behind him.

"That's him, eh?" Kojiro said. "He doesn't look like much anymore" he said with a taught jaw. Musashi jabbed him in the forehead swiftly.

"Don't be so easy to disrespect those you don't know" Musashi scolded. Kojiro scratched his forehead in embarrassment. "That man is more powerful than either you or I can deal with. I doubt even Captain Sasuke could stand against him for long…" As they were stalking the fearful man, he stopped instantly. Musashi shot a hand to his side, which Kojiro bumped in to.

Max tilted his head up and stared at the sky in the south. The rising sun seemed to push away the night like a silk curtain, allowing the orange and white sky to speckle in. After only a few moments of his observation, Max's eyes lost their chromatic shimmer and he slowly tipped onto his back. Musashi and Kojiro waited for nearly a minute before a loud and thunderous snoring started shaking the ground.

"…" glared Kojiro.

"He even sleeps powerfully" Musashi awed. He swung his arm forward and dashed over to the body, with Kojiro in tow. Before getting to close, Musashi's hair shook and his danger sense roared. He halted himself, digging his sandals into the loose dirt, while Kojiro kept running.

"What'd you stop for?" Kojiro said over his shoulder. "He's asle--" Max's shovel impacted with Kojiro's face, sending his arms limping forward and hurling him to the ground. The shovel disappeared back into Max's original position and Kojiro twitched slightly.

Musashi carefully troded over and pulled Kojiro to safety by the blade of his sword, trying to stay away from Max's swing radius. After dragging Kojiro a safe enough distance away, Musashi sat down with his arms folded in his robes.

"'Chromatic' Max…" he mused over. "You haven't fallen far, it seems…" The solace of the morning air was broken by a monstrous slam, as a huge figure on the distant ocean fell to its side.

* * *

Meanwhile, the ragtag pirates were returning to the docks, climbing up the ropes along side the nearby ships to safety. However, topside wasn't as safe as they initially thought. Most of the bounty hunters that weren't either dead or immediately indisposed were gathered together in one huge legion, making their way across the many ships with roaring enthusiasm. The pirates prepared for their last stand with loaded pistols and drawn sabers. Leading the pack was the cock-sure young captain, Lisa, and her Rainbow Road Pirates.

"Alright!" she shouted, hoisting herself up onto the railing with a bottle in hand. "This is our last chance to defend our home! Once we wipe these Sallies off the deck, we'll be home free!" The chorus of gruff and tumble voices cheered her on. "SO LET'S KICK SOME A--"

The wind blasted everyone to the floor and several pirates overboard. All the ships rocked and shook, most nearly capsizing. Lisa got up long enough to catch a glimpse of what had caused it, as the warship in the distance started to tip on its side.

Bard's high-power Soru had launched him across the vast expanse of the open waters and head on into the bottom of the warship's mast. He had spun from a torpedo position in mid-air to land with a stomp on his feet and both arms, delivering the full force of his body onto the ship's pivotal center. Now, it was tipping, just like he had planned.

"Booyah!" Bard exclaimed. Zan was stuck at a nearly horizontal angle in the deck, watching with fear for dear life as the water started replacing the skyline. Zan started backing up toward the opposite end and hopped up onto the railing. Rez came staggering out just in time to watch Bard get ready to leave.

"BARD!!" Rez shouted. Bard turned his head, gave a quick salute greeting, and crouched down low. Zan jumped at the last second, as the force of Bard's additional jump speeded the ship into a total capsizing roll. Rez started sliding off until he grabbed at his sword on his back. Zan crouched down at the knees and looked down on him.

"Man, you're captain's strong, huh?" Zan said mockingly. Rez pulled himself up to his collarbone with his huge blade wedged deep into the deck. He glared back at Zan as the seawater impacted fully with the main mast, sending a cascade of spray into the air. Zan jumped backwards and landed on the now flat side of the ship, with Rez following in a flailing panic with all three swords being used to make footholds.

"He's and idiot!" Rez shouted as he caught his breath on the side of the ship. Zan nodded casually, almost sarcastically, then almost tripped. The wood creaked loudly, and Rez and Zan shared a mutually terrified look. The ship, now on its side, was still tipping. Looking over the side where the keel was visible, Zan was able to remark in passive horror as he saw a shallow whirlpool forming directly under the ship.

"…damn…" Zan muttered. Rez crawled over and reiterated with a much more volatile curse that was covered by the thunderous roar of the sinking sea.

* * *

The ocean's new hole was due mainly in part to the combined efforts of Kaede and Araly. From below the tide and tow of the currents, through their combined strength and willpower, the girls had fully opened the Kappa's mouth. The device's full effect was to manipulate the surface tension of the nearby ocean water, stirring the currents underwater to make the waves as flat and calm as paper, and making anything else sink straight down into the torrential storm at ocean bottom. What was left of a ship would slowly float back up to the surface once the machine was deactivated.

Kaede and Araly were still keeping the mouth open, and the machine was still churning the sea. The strain was finally starting to get to Araly, whose air capsulate was starting to wear out. Kaede looked over to see her mate to be red in the face. Without hesitation, she darted over and laid a hand on her shoulder. Araly looked over with a huge, strained look complete with protruding vains. Kaede pointed up to the surface. Araly looked up, nodded, and let the rope go.

Once at the water surface, Araly and Kaede both gasped for breath as they swam over to the outcropping rock. Kaede watched in awe, as the scene was open for her to see: the battle was won. The warship was disabled and everyone was safe. With the exception of the still absent Ninpo Pirate Swordsmen, everything was looking as bright as the morning sun.

"What happened?" Araly said, still spitting out sea water. Kaede smiled and leaned back against the rocky wall behind her.

"We won…" she replied. Araly joined her in looking on at the still capsizing ship in the distance.

* * *

Back at the Tall Mast Tavern, the pirate flag was waving strong. The Buster Pirates had reconnoitered and dropped off the kingpin of the whole operation, gaining the respect and rapport of every crew under the roof. Everyone shouted their praises at once, offering free drinks and piles of food.

"Hold it!" Marco shouted. "We can't accept anything 'til our Captain gets back!"

"Where is he?" one random fan shouted. The Buster crew all exchanged looks of silent caution, and a moment later, Marco faced forward with a positive face and O.K. sign up.

"We don't know!"

"Why is that a good thing!?" one man yelled across the room. The awkward noise was broken by a rushing clatter of running feet from the main ladder room. An pirate came running out to the middle of the room with a telescope in hand and no breath left.

"What is it?" one man asked. The exhausted one shot up and hand and bent over, panting hard for about a minute. Everyone started getting impatient, or overly casual, and ignored him.

"The warship…" he finally started. By this time, of course, everyone had gone back to either praising the Buster Pirates or getting drunk. "OI!" he shouted. The attention was refocused back on him. Still taking heavy breaths, the man started. "The warship out at sea, was just capsized! If there were any more bounty hunters on their way, they're gone now!"

After a brief pause, everyone intensified their stares silently, leaning in close to him. "How?" whispered the group. The lookout darted his eyes back and forth a few times, feeling mighty uncomfortable in the room. Before he could stutter out his answer, the wall of the Tavern came crashing in. Dust and debris spread out everywhere, and the surprise shook everyone to their knees and butts.

'Who the hell!?' 'What in heck??' 'I got a splinter in my ass!' shouted the majority of the pirates. Amidst the clearing dust, standing in the orange light of the illuminated bar was a man. Nearly seven feet tall, robed in a black, sleeveless coat that stretched down to his ankles, and a flowing head of short golden hair.

"Meh…" the figure said in a dejected way. "That could've been much cooler." The dust settled from the air, and the faces of the Buster Pirates all lit up at once. "I probably should've gone back for Rez and…Guy too. Ah well, they can swim." Bard turned his head to the startled, gracious, and few angry faces of the amalgamated pirate crews. He shot up his hand in greeting with a quick "Yo"

"Th-tha…" stuttered the lookout, "That's him! He tipped the warship, somehow. I know it!" Bard blinked at him and looked back as everyone was closing in on him with impressed faces.

"What, that big ship?" Bard mentioned casually, pointing in the general direction. "Yeah, that was me. I'd be done faster, but I had to get my aim right before I--" Before he could finish, he was already hoisted up upon the shoulders of his faithful crew of a day or so.

"Three cheers for Captain Bard! Twice again savior of Paradiso Isola!!" With each 'Huzzah!' that the pirates sounded out, Bard's smile got wider and his modesty diminished. Upon the last huzzah, Bard cheered along with them. It was a happy morning after the endless night.

Sasuke arrived on scene with Hebimaru hiding in the shadows of a nearby alley. He walked up to the now nearly broken Tavern entrance, hands in pockets and bags under each eye. All that mess and all that fighting, but still he found the courage and strength to edge out a smile.

"This kid…" he started as he watched the parade start anew, "…I like him." Sasuke went on, still in his ninja gear, to join the celebration.

* * *

Rez and Zan sat stranded on the keel beam on the underside of the overturned ship. The waves were finally calm, but the tide kept pulling them out to sea. Very slowly, the shoreline was shrinking and they would be gone into the inescapable Grand Line within a few hours.

"Now what…" grumped Rez. Zan looked up from his etching into the wooden hull wit his knife and turned to him.

"We could sing" Zan offered. Rez looked at him, huffed and turned his back to him angrily. Zan looked on after him for a few moments, then kicked back and rested his head in his arms. With a whistle for pitch, Zan started singing "Yo-hohoho..."


	31. Sasuke's Story and Shoving Out

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The sun was finally hanging over the mountain tops. The shadows were all gone from the streets and the fog was building in the northern forest. The labyrinth was being scoured by the pirates for extra weapons and resources from the captured parties of bounty hunters. The warships around the island had been raided and used for repairs on the village. Everything was peaceful, especially at the boisterous tavern.

For the second day in a row, the Buster Pirates were being cheered on with an accompaniment of seafaring chorus. Bard sat at center stage in the middle of the bar with the recently rescued Rez and Zan sitting near him. Araly, of course, sat right by his side and sipped occasionally from a shallow glass of water.

"Can I cook you something else, captain?" the head chef asked nervously.

"Uh, yeah!" Bard said. "Give me another thing of meat, please?"

"Damn!" the chef said happily. "I mean, great! I'll go back and place you order." The chef left with a dark scowl on his face and headed for the kitchen full of exhausted cooks.

_That man is a bottomless pit..._

"Yo! Can I get some more beer?" Zan asked from across the room. He was sitting across from Rez at their own little table. Rez was quietly pouting at Bard and drinking only when addressed.

"Calm down, soldier" Zan taunted. Rez shot his head back around at him with a glare. "You're still a major player here, right?" Rez cooled himself and now just looked at him. "Not everyone's talking about Bard, you know. You generated a lot of hype with the crews here as well." Rez reset his face back to normal with a bit of astonishment. He looked around and, to his surprise, people were pointing and looking at him

"Hmm" Rez humphed with a grin. "Well, I have been a pirate much longer than him." Now confident in himself, Rez took a steady swig from his pitcher.

"Three cheers for Captain Bard!" some random person shouted out. Rez spit in his glass, soaking his face and scowled his head over in Bard's direction. The rest of the Buster Pirates had walked in with kegs and crates in hand and marched on through the bar to the back. Everyone cheered regardless.

"Well, thanks guys!" Bard said cheerfully. He went to take a drink from his cup but stopped short and grimaced at it. "Araly, what is this?" he whined.

"Tea" she happily replied.

"Uuugh..." Bard moaned as he slumped down onto the table. "I want'a drink beer with everyone else!"

"No! You're far to young to drink beer!" Araly scolded. "What would you mother think of you?" Unfortunately for Bard, someone had overheard the back and forth between him and her, and decided to assume the most obvious thing verbally.

"What's the matter, Kid?" a random passerby slurred as he patted his back. "Your wife giving you trouble?" Of course, Bard's face turned red and his eyes became furious, but Araly just went back to sipping innocently. Bard jumped up from his chair and leaned down in spite, bearing his teeth with glaring white eyes and the accused man.

"SHE..." Bard growled, "isn't my wife." This scared the poor man sober, and he put his hands up protectively as he visibly quivered and shook.

"Ch-ch...Chill man" the pirate stuttered quickly. Everyone was staring at this point, and Araly was more than aware of it. She tugged on Bard's coat and he turned around with a curious face.

"Sit down, Bard! You're causing a scene" she said softly. Bard's sharp ears picked up on the titters and giggles of quite a few pirates. Even Rez was chuckling to himself and Zan was shaking his head with a smile.

Bard stuttered fervently, but couldn't form the words to satisfy his own embarrassment. Instead of trying harder to talk, he sped out the door and stomped on the street outside. After a few stomps, it was quiet again.

"Woah!" one man said beside the still cracked and poorly-boarded hole in the wall. "He vanished!" Many people started flocking about the windows and looking around for him. The wood where he had stomped was splintered and broken.

"Ah!" the man whimpered. "He's pretty touchy, eh? What's up with him?"

"Oh," Araly started with a tone of disappointment, "he's just like that. He doesn't seem to want to grow up..." With everyone looking out the windows, she kept her concerned gaze locked over onto the door.

* * *

Sasuke had reached the final floor before the crows nest balcony and began to converse with himself.

"Aguila being here was no coincidence" he began. "There had to be some reason, and moreover, he had to have someone working inside to get here in the first place. This island isn't very easy to get to even with a log, and _especially_ hard for any Marines..." he climbed up the ladder and opened the hatch to the top. "All of this seems way to weird to chalk up to coincidence..."

"What does?" Bard asked. Sasuke stumbled backwards, almost falling back down the hatch, but regained his balance and looked up. Bard was crouched on his toes at the edge of the nest's wall, looking out to the sea. After regaining his composure, Sasuke walked over and sat with Bard.

"Oh, it's nothing" Sasuke said laxly. "How's it going?"

"Meh" Bard replied, making a rocking motion with his hand. "I'm glad everyone's happy for me, but I don't really know what I did..."

"Really?" Sasuke asked. "Well, what has you confused?"

"I was just being a pirate, I wasn't trying to do anything profound or stupendous." Bard's modesty reached Sasuke, as the words gave him an involuntary pause.

"Well, why _did_ you do it?" Sasuke asked. Before bard could happily answer. "In fact, I have another question for you." Bard looked at him expectantly. "Why did you become a pirate?"

The question raised Bard's eyebrows. Sasuke expected him to take a much longer pause than he initially did, but Bard already had his answer prepared. He smiled and gave a short laugh before he began.

"Because I love to fight!" Bard said with an eager smile and furrowed brows. "As a marine, I couldn't fight just anybody, only lawbreakers and pirates mainly. I figured whatever they wanted me to do after that would be the same. If I had a coworker or higher-up that I wanted to fight, I wouldn't be able to do it. I guess I stayed gone because I knew that there were plenty of strong people in the world, and as a pirate I could fight anyone I wanted without getting in trouble..."

Sasuke was impressed and moved. He was smiling at Bard and Bard turned to give a goofy smile back.

"How about you?" Bard asked. Before he could start his answer, Bard extended his question. "Why'd you become a ninja?" Sasuke looked ahead flatly, then shook it off and began to answer the first part.

"My older brother left to find the One Piece when I was a kid." Sasuke's story had recaptured Bard's attention as the breeze blew the flag overhead hard. "He was always so amazing. Fast, strong, great with a sword. I really looked up to him. Then, one day, a group of pirates came to my town and fought off the marines. Everyone else hid in their homes but me. They were the original Ninpo Pirates, led by the legendary Captain Shoga..." the silence lasted for a few seconds. "...but that was a long time ago."

"Hmm" Bard hummed in response. "I like your story a little better because it has ninjas." Bard's goofy quip left Sasuke stiffly twitching his head for a moment.

"Where are you going to go from here?" Sasuke asked. Bard thought for a second with his fist in his chin.

"The next island?" he replied.

"No," Sasuke chuckled. "What will you do on the Grand Line? Where will you go, or don't you know?"

"Nope! I don't!" Bard pleasantly replied as he back flipped back down. "That's half the fun!" Sasuke watched on as Bard casually went back down the ladder to the tavern.

"...I like him" Sasuke said to himself as he stood up on the walling of the nest. "He's just like my brother was..."

* * *

"So, what'll you guys do now?" the bartender asked the mainstays of the Buster Pirates. Marco and his overly burly pro-Bard companion took swigs from their drinks.

"Well, that's up to the Captain, really" Marco said. "Once our log sets, we'll probably get on our way."

"Although," the burly one said depressingly, "we don't have a proper ship at the moment."

"You think anyone'll be selling their ships anytime soon?" Marco asked. The bartender shrugged and went back to cleaning his glass. Just as the two were getting settled back into their drinking, a shaky hand grasped them at the shoulders. Marco jumped with a loud "GEEZ!!"

"I have a boat..." said a very creepy looking old man in a shroud. His one eye was bulging almost out of his head and his hands were nearly all bone. Except for his insane and crooked smile, he was shrouded in dark. A big vessel, too. One worthy of a crew like yours." Marco and his friend glanced between each other warily.

"What kind?" Marco asked speculatively.

"A Galleon" the man replied in an high pitch. "It is a marvel of shipwright engineering, if I would so say myself, I..."

"Well, we aren't suckers!" said the burly Buster. "I want to see this ship before we give you any go ahead!"

"Very well," the man said between breaths. "If you can gather your crew outside, I will show it too you..." With that, the old man seemed to glide away. Marco got up and slapped his friend on the shoulder. He nodded, and they both went off to gather the crew. Zan had seen the whole thing, and it jarred his memory of a previous event. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small Den Den Mushi.

"Wha's that?" Rez asked, taking his lips off his bottle. Zan turned away and took out a cigarette from his pocket.

"Press it and find out" he said with his mouth occupied before lighting it and walking away. The normal logic of unknown objects and the consequences of touching them had been drunkenly drowned in Rez's brain, leaving him with the 'what does this do?' complex. And so, he pressed the button.

* * *

Down in the outer banks of the harbor, salvagers were working hard and prying loose all the cannons and better-looking parts of the sunken ship without much progress. Suddenly, they all heard a simultaneous series of clicks from within the ship, followed by concussive booms. The water above made a tremendous splash, as the enormous force of each cannon in the warship going off at once forced the water up and about as mist. The workers, in turn, were all cartwheeling through the air in a curious daze.

Through the rebuilding streets and other arduous work projects making bustling noise throughout town, the explosion was neither heard nor notices way back at the bar. Rez kept himself at attention for a few seconds, but failed to register and profound effect from the button.

"Piss" he cursed and went back to drinking.


	32. A Ship Worthy of Song, Praise, and Beer!

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"Did you see my crew lately?" Bard asked a random pirate. They shrugged and he went on down the street. "I'm Bard. Have you seen the Buster Pirates anywhere?" he asked. Everyone shrugged or shook their heads. He asked from the tattoo parlor in the square all the way down to the fisheries at the docks. Still, no one had seen and some had still not heard of the Buster Pirates. What Bard failed to notice, of course, was the sheer lack of people and shops in which to question, as a huge percent of the bounty hunters had been 'let go', or so he heard.

"Oi, Musashi" Kojiro prodded as he drank from his gourd in the street. Musashi, sitting on a fence not far away, didn't respond. "OI!" Kojiro shouted. Musashi snapped out of his trance and grunted quizzically. "Isn't that the Buster Captain over there?" Musashi looked over and caught a glimpse of the tall, muscular man as he spun around asking whoever he could an inaudible question. "Kind of pitiful that this guy's that crew's Captain now, eh?" Kojiro said. Musashi was already gone and over in Bard's path.

"Hey, have you seen the Buster pirates?" Bard asked Musashi.

"Yes"

"Damn" Bard cursed and turned to ask someone else. Then he stopped and did a shy double-take. "Really?"

"They left for the Labyrinth earlier" Musashi explained. "I believe they were going to look at a new ship." Bard's eyes lit up and he smiled a goofy, wide smile.

"That's great!" Bard shouted. He stole Musashi's hand and shook it hard. "Thanks a bundle, Bathrobe-guy!" With that Bard turned around and vanished. In his place was a huge gust of wind as he sped down the street out of town.

"NNN-GGRRRAAA!" Bard shouted as he sprinted in a blur. "Even with Soru it'll still take me thirty seconds to find them!" As he blasted apart the calm air throughout the entire city, people were looking after him and thinking that someone had shot a cannon down the street. Musashi stood gazing at space while Kojiro stumbled over.

"Man!" he exclaimed "That guy's fast!"

"It's his technique" Musashi replied. Kojiro looked at him blankly and drew out his sword from his back. He pointed it at Musashi, who turned his head with a stone gaze.

"No fancy-talk, Musashi" Kojiro threatened. "What do you mean?" Musashi brushed the massive sword aside and started walking away down the dock.

"He knows some dangerous skills" Musashi explained to the wind. "We can only hope the other users of his power don't find him before he masters his strengths." Kojiro was still confused, but satisfied. He sheathed his sword and jogged after his comrade.

* * *

"There it is!" the exceedingly old man presented. The Buster crew took in every inch of the offered ship's detail, from it's black-rot finish and torn sails to the mold-covered broken doors and orange strings of metal and chain. Aside from the complete aesthetic of a haunted ship, it had another very interesting design: two main masts with the immense main sail hanging between them. That was, however, not much of a distraction from the contagion of rot that seemed to infest the entire ship.

"Why am I here?" Araly complained quietly.

"YOU'RE KIDDING HERE, RIGHT!?" Rez screamed, the shock of the offered ship's condition forcing him sober. "This is a wreck, not a ship! Moreover, how do you expect a crew of thirty-odd pirates to operate a ship this huge!?" The old man was backing away already as quickly as his incredibly feeble legs could.

"You made a mistake trying to swindle us, old man" said the burliest pirate present. They prepared to descend on the man like a cloud of hungry locust over a field of fresh crops when a voice started ringing out from above. At first it was soft, but as their ears picked it up, it became clearer. Araly looked up and gasped. From out of seemingly nowhere, someone was dropping from the sky and shouting down below.

"WHA-SSUUUUUUUUUPPPP!!" and all the pirates recognized the voice of their Captain.

"Bard!?" Araly shouted in astonishment.

"Don't land on the ship" Rez warned "or you'll fly straight through!!" To this warning, the old man laughed. Rez turned with a curious grunt to the now cackling man. "What's funny?" The old man just pointed over.

"HAAAAAA--" Bard shouted. With a huge and dense thud, he landed point-blank onto the spacious deck. The doors rattled and the ship bobbed in and out of the water. After a second of posing with his chest flexing and his arms pumped back, hunching over and bending at the knees, Bard opened his eyes and fell over. "--AAAAAH GOD! MY KNEES ARE BUSTED!!" Bard started screaming unintelligibly as he rolled around melodramatically on the deck. The Buster Pirates were speechless as the old man kept cackling loudly and the waves from the bobbing ship came splashing up over the rocks.

"Ptoo!" Araly spat with a blank face as she peeled the seaweed from her head. "Why am I here?" she now demanded quietly.

"As you can see" the old man said sinisterly, "that ship is made of insanely dense wood. The structure itself has seen more battles than all of you put together! The amount of damage this monster of a galleon has absorbed is beyond dreaming..." The Buster Pirates were all listening intently now, as the old man had taken a pause. "...but you don't want it." he finished, waving his hand and starting away.

"Wait!" Rez shouted. "We do! It's amazing!" The old man's eyes glinted fiercely and his somewhat-toothy grin was widening. "Thank you so much for it, I promise as Co-Captain that we'll take the best care of it--"

"The cost is 500million berrie" the old man said an inch from Rez's face. Rez was shocked to a still, but the other pirates who overheard were kindling up their 'murder' faces very quickly.

"500million" Bard said, now suddenly close enough to listen in. "Is that a lot?"

"OF COURSE IT IS!" his crew shouted back. Rez too the old man by the neck of his tattered robes and hoisted him with to his twisted and contorted face of rage.

"That...is...way...too...expensive" Rez gritted out. The old man kept smiling and cackling.

"Then how about a trade?" he said. Rez lowered him but kept his face cautiously defensive.

"A trade for what?" Rez asked. The old man let out a short cackle and licked his lips.

"The girl!" he said, pointing over to Araly. She gasped and riled back. The crew looked on to her with surprise and Bard looked curiously around.

"Which one?" Bard asked honestly. Rez put the man down and bolted over to kick Bard in the gut with all his force, causing Bard to fold over in a perfect ninety-degree angle.

"Wha- me?" Araly finally said in horror. "Why me?" The old man slinked his way through the prate crowd like a hideous mist and edged up to the young miss in question, who nearly shrieked in terror.

"I need a pretty young woman like this for a very special purpose" he said perversely. The crew prepared to move forward as the old man drew closer to her, but they stopped. Bard was already there. As the old man reached his hand out lecherously, Bard took it and pushed it away.

"No deal" he said. The old man looked up, Araly looked up, and the Buster Pirates felt the blood rushing to their eyes in anger.

"Why not?" The old man asked. "Don't you know that having women on a ship is bad luck?"

"Listen" Bard said in a deathly serious tone. Araly straightened up in concern. "This isn't about stupid crap like that. You're treating another person, moreover someone I know, like an object to be traded. People aren't currency, they're people. Acting like people all carry a set worth demeans them, and lessens the chance that they'll become great! If you around treating everyone you meet like meat or spice, then your dreams will be dashed along with the people who really _are_ treated like that!" Bard's rousing speech sparked a memory in the old man's brain, and the two events of the past and present started to overlap with startling accuracy.

"You've really pissed me off, man!" Bard screamed. "You can keep your stupid ship, I don't care how good it is. No matter what happens in my life or so help me anyone else's, I won't stand by and let people be abused like this. Not now NOT EVER!!" A heavy silence fell as Bard stared with mad rage down at the still old man. His crew was not only speechless, but frightened by their Captain's voracious stern on the matter, all of them knowing that such atrocities did indeed happen in the world.

"Let's go" Bard said, tugging Araly along by the arm. "We'll just steal someone else's ship like real pirates would."

"Balon!!" The old man spontaneously shouted. Bard turned with a curious face. "Oh, Balon! It's been ages! Don't you remember me? Old Scummy Sam from Havordy Port! I introduced you to your wife." Bard's expression grew even more curious and confused. "I'm sorry, but this must be your daughter, eh?" Araly grunted quizzically and jerked Bard's arm hard. Bard followed the motion and bent down far to aim his ear at Araly's mouth.

"Bard, I think this guy's confused you with someone else..." she explained. Bard nodded and looked back up with a grin.

"Well, I'm sorry" he started, "But I'm not--"

"And what's more, I haven't seen your ship anywhere" the old man said almost mockingly. "Why don't you take this one?" The Buster crew squealed in unison at the offer. Bard's face stayed as blankly confused as he could manage, but his arm was still outstretched from when he was dragging Araly along.

"Well...uh" Bard stuttered. "I-I'm not Balon. In fact-" The old man grabbed his hand and shook it regardless.

"It's no trouble at all, old friend!" the old man said happily. "You and your crew are more than welcome to take this heap with you. You'll have to let me meet the rest of your family someday, though." Bard just let his hand be shaken as he was still stunned and mindless.

* * *

A day later, the ship was fixed back up. The boards were re-finished to shine with the original colors of dark oak, the sails were all replaced and the Grand Sail, as it was called now, was emblemed with the new symbol of the Buster Pirates: a golden, sinisterly grinning Dragon Skull, as was the pattern on Bard's coat. Up above the crow's nest waved the flag bearing the same symbol, and everyone was gathered on deck to celebrate.

"WA-HO!!" Rez shouted out in ecstatic verve. He held up a mug of booze and proposed a toast. "To senility for helping us claim this wonderful ship!"

"ARR!" the group shouted back. Rez wrapped his arm around a still confused Bard, who sat on the highest-sitting crate that was in the musty hold as the new ship of the Buster Pirates began to set out. The old man was there in the rocky harbor to see them out, along with an assortment of very handsome young men who waved on with him.

"But grandfather" the most handsome and muscular and tan young man said to the old man, "you said you'd find me a beautiful bride in exchange for our old, ugly ship."

"I would have" the old man replied, "but I couldn't. The girl was the daughter of an old friend of mine..." As the overly handsome crew continued to wave goodbye to their fiendishly huge galleon, the old man smiled, remembering his only clean memories of the past: those had with the rambunctious young adventurer named Balon D. Samekawa.

Up in the craggy mountains, Sasuke sat in his pedestrian clothes and watched as the ship sailed off into the sun.

"What horrors await you in this dangerous world, Bard?" he said to himself. "And how will you face them?"

"It's not our place to know, Captain" Kaede retorted. Sasuke laughed under his breath and prepared to depart with her. He stood up and looked on one last time.

"I suppose not..." They both vanished instantly and sped across the rocky highlands towards the town, now perfectly rebuilt.


	33. A Starter Bounty and a Surprise Stowaway

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"Captain Mars, sir!" a nervous Marine grunt reported. "How are those papers coming?" Mars sat slouched against his huge fist behind a desk overflowing with papers, signed and mostly unsigned regarding some event that he had long forgotten.

"Yeah, they are" Mars affirmed, picking his nose casually.

"Very good sir, because Commodore Lucas is here to retrieve them." This news made Mars look up in disgust at the marine. Commodore Lucas was his regional superior who took all of his reports to and fro between the island and Enies Lobby. He was a short man who never smiled and seemed to have some kind of rash on his face that crawled up from his neck. Accompanying him were members of the Cipher Pol, dressed in black suits and carrying guns through the base. Each marine they passed gave their hastiest salute.

"OH! You're here, Lucas!" Mars' voice called over the intercom. "Please wipe the dirt off your shoes before you come in, my men just finished sweeping!" Mars snickered over the base as Lucas scowled and made his way in, not wiping his shoes at all. The CP agents did, out of courtesy.

"Mars!" Lucas shouted, storming his way into the office. "Where are my reports!?" Mars didn't bother to salute or even straighten up, but rather slumped lower in his chair. "Do you know how nippy Brandnew is getting with me for the bounties?" Mars shrugged. Lucas slammed his hand down on the crowded desk, sending an avalanche of messy papers spreading over the floor. Mars just sat back and watched it happen. Lucas picked up a random one and held it up to Mars.

"Is this it?" Lucas asked officially. Mars sighed.

"Desertion and Treason within a lower-military position doesn't warrant any more than 5million, so yes." Mars explained. "As of now, Bard D. Samekawa is a Pirate worth 4million berrie. Along with him is the pirate Rez 'the Duelist' worth 30million."

"And what about the former Yonkou?" Lucas asked.

"A legend..." Mars assured, going back to his urgent nose-picking. Lucas snarled and left in a huff, taking the bounty picture and leaving the CP agents with Mars.

"We would like to ask your cooperation on a certain matter, if we may" one of the government agents said. Mars turned to them seriously.

"It has come to our attention that this island is home to an excavation site where various Blank Century items were found several months ago" the agent reported. Mars sat back up and listened. "All of the items were thereafter confiscated by the CP agents called here. However, there was a typo in the listings..." Mars made the motion to stand up, knowing what to expect next. "We wonder if that was _just_ a typo, or if one of the items was indeed taken out of our jurisdiction..."

"Nope" Mars said assuringly. "I counted them all myself and re-checked with the papers, it was a typo." Mars' reassuring smile gave the agents a sense of duteous curiosity, but his honesty seemed to wipe away their doubts as they both bowed and started out. As they left and closed the door, Mars' smile left with them. He slumped back into his chair and sighed heavily.

"Oh, Bard" he lamented, rubbing his temples. "You're in more trouble than you know..."

* * *

"High-Ho!" Bard shouted. "Let's shove it and rup the sails, ye land-lubbers!!" His enthusiasm was wasted, as his crew just ignored him and kept moving about the ship carrying on. Most of them were slacking off, looking over the side of the ship and the group of cooks was fishing. Bard frowned and hopped across the expansive deck, feeling the warm air blow across the varnished deck. Then he stopped.

"Hey!" he shouted over to the main deck. "I think it's about to rain!" His crew paid more attention to him now, so they checked the skies and horizon, trying to catch a glimpse of storm clouds.

"Port side! Incoming Storm!" the lookout called down from the amplified horns of the crows nest. Everyone took a moment of uneasy pause, then rushed around to secure the ship for a heavy tossing of eaves. Bard just hopped back along into the aft-end of the ship where the main bedrooms were.

"How'd he know?" Rez questioned, taking firm grip of the steering wheel. In no less than a minute, the rain was pounding hard on the deck of the ship and pelting Rez's body full of dents. The rest of the crew was down below, operating the ship using remote controls. That was the apparent beauty of this ship, the levers and ropes that connected up above with the Grand sail and the subsequent sails that stuck out from the side of the ship, the Dampener sails, which helped to navigate the ship through the waters.

"Poor First-mate Rez" said one of the Busters, sitting on a padded chair and watching a cranking wheel to make sure it wouldn't spin.

"Where's Max?" someone asked. Up above, Max was leaning back in a chair that was sliding haphazardly across the deck , gargling the rain that caught in his mouth. Meanwhile, in the master bedrooms, Araly had manufactured a cure for her rampant seasickness.

"Hey Bard," she asked from her hammock that swung freely above the floor. "Do you know what time it is?" Bard shrugged from his seat looking out the aft window and leaned back.

"How do you think Captain Mars is doing?" Bard asked. Araly looked up from her seat and over at Bard. He looked casual enough, but the question was prodding enough to force her to think.

"He's probably looking for us by now" she suggested. Bard stood up and walked over to a chest beside the huge master bed.

"Yeah, probably" he replied. He took something out of the chest, unseen by Araly, and slipped it inside his coat. "I hope we don't have to fight him..." Bard said sternly. Araly watched him leave back into the storm and grew concerned. She went back to lay down and relax when something caught her eye on the ceiling that made her nearly scream out...

* * *

The storm, as soon as Bard stepped out of his door, was over. Rez was soaked to the bone and muttered angrily. Bard spied Max with his feet up against the rail and his chair leaning back on two legs, and decided to leave him be.

"Yo, Rez!" Bard shouted, rushing over to the fore-deck where Rez was glaring intently from. "What's our bearing?" Rez checked his wrist for the eighth time this minute and found that the ship was sailing forward along the log-pose's line.

"We're dead on for the next island" Rez reported.

"Great! When will we get there?" Bard asked happily.

"If everything goes okay" Rez started with low expectations "it should be a few days. A week at most." Bard groaned loudly and impatiently.

"That's too long!" Bard complained. "Make the ship go faster!"

"We can't!" someone shouted from the main deck. "This ship's pretty huge on its own, so we can't be expected to make any kind of record pace, or anything..."

"Well I don't care about that!" Bard announced. "Let's just go faster!" He took an aspiring pose to his crew, who looked on judgmentally.

"He doesn't understand the basic laws of physics very well, does he?" one pirate asked another.

"Nope" the other responded shortly.

"Well, whatever" Bard said. "Everyone! While we're out in the middle of the ocean on a huge ship like this, I suggest we sharpen our skills, lest we all let our muscles wither away to ATROPHY!"

"YEAH!" Bard's biggest supporters shouted in unison.

"Everyone pair up randomly!" Bard commanded. "We'll stay on top of our game by sparring with each other!" The pirates scattered around, drawing out their swords and striking their fighting poses. Bard watched eagerly and turned to Rez, who was still dripping as he steered. Bard stealthily creapt over and poked him in the back of the head.

"No" Rez snapped.

"Come on! The ship can steer itself!" Bard persuaded. Rez thought back to the hideous thrashing he received the first time he met Bard, and shook his head furiously at him. The thought of such a battle even made the creaks in the ship's hull seem louder.

"IF we fight we'll just end up destroying the ship" Rez said. Bard stood still and thought about that for a minute.

"Yeah, you're right..." he said. Regardless, Bard intended for his crew to be as powerful as possible before they had to encounter any more adversaries out at sea. With everyone ready, Bard was about to shout out his signal to start, but something else caught his eye. From the aft end of the ship, the woodwork seemed to warp a little. Then it started to bulge out, first amorphously, then as a vaguley human shape. Finally, someone seemed to step out form the wall with his hands in his pockets and a lit cigarette in his mouth.

"Yo" Zan said across the deck. "Nice ship." The crew all turned their attention on the intruder for a moment. Bard didn't immediately recognize him, but Rez did.

"Zan!" Rez called out, having stepped away from the wheel for a moment. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I couldn't get a ride anywhere else, so I thought you guys could give me a lift over to the next island for free..." Zan explained, approaching Bard with the crew eying him carefully. "I hope that's okay, Captain." Bard looked at him for a second, gave a goofy smile and affirmed.

"Yeah, why not?" he said. Zan smiled openly at his gracious host and turned to the sound of a door slamming open. Out of the aft deck stepped Araly, swaying sickly and leaning against the railing.

"Bard!" she shouted out, "don't let him near you!" Her serious demeanor was by a vomiting spell, which passed as she got back up from the railing and wiped her mouth. "That's Zan Edwards, the Revolution Army's assassin! He's going to kill us all!!" At her report, Zan stood and raised his brows, as every sword and gun turned on him in an instant. Even Rez was shocked to discover his friend's true identity, and he aimed down his dual-gunblade scopes. Bard darted his head to-and-fro, looking in confusion as his entire crew was glaring with murderous intent at this man that he didn't know.

"Wait, how'd you know Araly?" Bard asked. Araly raised her head back up from the railing to answer him quickly.

"Newspapers..." she said then went back to throwing up. Zan just stood still, blinked and smiled up at the Captain and his first mate.


	34. Zan, the Assassin from who knows where?

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"Stay back!" one pirate shouted. Zan was surrounded with a wide circle of sword-wielding, pistol-aiming ne'er-do-wells aboard the Buster Pirate's unnamed flagship. Zan stood calmly, even happily, grinning down at the floor ignoring the threatening presence around him. Rez wasn't pointing his weapon at him, nor did he seem to care that he was really an assassin.

"Why do you want to kill us?" Bard shouted.

"I can hear you if you don't yell" Zan said. Bard jumped down into the circle and faced down the stowaway.

"Well, what did we do?" Bard asked. "If anything, we were helping back on the Islo Artefickal...place...right?" Bard's inability to pronounce the island's name or comprehend how badly he did it amused Zan, who extended his grin to a smirk that looked much more evil that it really was.

"Well, yes" Zan admitted. "You did help. A lot, actually Bard." Bard reeled back and gasped.

"How'd you know my name!?" Bard demanded.

"You told it to me...when we first met..." An awkward silence followed which was broken by the crashing of the waves and then a sick groaning from the ship's rail.

"Uuuughhhh..." Araly moaned.

"Oh, yeah" Marco started, "she gets sick real easy, doesn't she?" but his concern was ill given, because in the brief time the crew had refocused on the sick girl, Zan vanished. "CRAP!"

"Where's he go?" someone shouted. "Rez! Is he up there with you?" Rez was already back steering the ship away from the myriad of unseen threats on the sea.

"Nah" Rez shouted, "He's probably down below." The pirates all screamed in astonishment in unison and rushed over to the nearest door to below the deck. Bard didn't care, so he rushed over to Araly.

"Are you alright?" Bard asked. The answer was obvious when he flipped her over. She looked like a dead fish with a long stream of drool running down the side of her face and whited-out eyes. Bard grimaced as he picked her up and carried her over to the bedroom in the aft deck.

* * *

"Hoo!" Zan shouted with impression. "This is a fancy ship." Zan had situated himself within the mechanism that controlled the Grand sail from below, positioning his oddly flexible joints between all the spokes and gears while resting. "It must be an experimental model" Zan mused, "I've never even heard of something like this." He heard the stampeding of pirate feet from the other side of the large paneled tube and decided to proceed away. He phased only slightly to bulge out the wood and peek out as the pirates searched around in muted voices.

"Time to skedaddle" Zan said to himself, fusing down to the under deck of the ship. He flipped over and dropped down into the crew's quarters, which was lavishly decorated with crimson rugs and golden ropes tied to royal purple hammocks. "...jeez. Either some wealthy sailors or some freaking lucky pirates must've owned this ship before." The walls were lined with large hammocks, big enough to situate two pirates at once. Zan lifted his brow at the overly nice atmosphere of the crew's deck and astonished at the ridiculous decorations around the room when the door flew open.

"Here he is!" one large pirate shouted, brandishing a crossbow with a bayonet. Zan darted his head over and glared. The man didn't flinch and aimed at Zan's head. Zan didn't panic, and he didn't bother to try to dodge, he just smiled and started to sink down into the floor. The pirate fired, just barely skimming over Zan's head. It would have missed entirely, but Zan could only sink down to his shins. The crew's deck was too close to the hull of the ship, which was in the ocean, and the ocean was bad for Zan.

"..." was Zan's grinning, frozen response. He could feel the chilly drag of the ocean against his leather booties getting more intense. He jumped up out of the floor, much to the pirate's astonishment, and landed with his legs in a near split balanced on his index and middle fingers on one hand.

"See ya!" Zan shouted. With a monstrous push, he vanished up through the ceiling, leaving the crossbow pirate's jaw gaping wide.

"Where is he?" Marco said, arriving too late. The pirate slowly pointed up and Marco followed it up. "He went up top, let's go! Protect the Captain!" A loud battle grunt followed as the crew ran up to the deck.

* * *

"Are you feeling okay now, Araly?" Bard asked the lifeless looking lump of pale flesh that was Araly in the hammock. She groaned to confirm her signs of life and went limp in the sling. Bard draped her hanging arm over her midsection carefully. "You shouldn't try to walk around, you know. You always get really sick." Araly gurgled a little, but straightened herself out in the hammock now that her sickness was fading.

"I'm never used to feeling sick" she admitted. Bard chuckled at her.

"Yeah" he said. "You remember when we were kids? Me and your brother ate a bunch of fruit from the mainland and we couldn't leave our houses for two whole days?" Araly picked up on Bard's reminiscence and thought back to when she was that young.

"But I ate twice as much and didn't get sick" she said nostalgically. "I thought you guys were just faking to get out of playing with me." She and Bard shared a brief moment of happy laughter before reality set in again. A cold silence followed as she tried to sit up to face Bard.

"I miss my family" she said sadly. Bard looked away, knowing he couldn't really do anything about it and not wanting to bring that that fact up. Bard wanted to say something, but his hairs stood on end and he felt a jolt of fear across his skin like an army of ants. He darted his entire body around to watch as Zan slowly rose up from the floor boards, extending his arms out as he surfaced and landing daintily on his toes. Zan gazed over at the astonished boy and the frightened girl and waved at them without breaking his pose.

"Yo" Zan greeted.

"Hey" Bard replied gleefully. Araly ducked down in her hammock with a glare on the man who spun around to properly face the Captain with an impressed air.

"This is a fine ship, Bard" Zan said. "You must be happy about it."

"Yeah, I am" Bard said, rubbing his neck. "I'm kinda confused as to how I got it, but I'm glad I got it for free."

"Free's a pretty good deal for a battleship like this" Zan said with a chuckle. Bard chuckled back in civility while Araly watched on with deep confusion.

"Hey, I was thinking" Bard started, "why _are_ you here?" Zan shifted his hands into his pockets and looked up at his oddly tall questioner.

"I'm not really sure" Zan admitted. Bard looked down curiously, trying to silently egg Zan on about why. "I'm not entirely sure as to why I came to Paradiso Isola, or why I helped you, but I have a theory." Bard sat down, eager to hear what it was. "As you know, I'm an assassin."

"Oh! That was true?" Bard exclaimed, surprised that he was admitting to his title so laxly. Zan nodded and Araly ducked back even more.

"Before I came to Isola, I was sent on a mission by the leader of the Revolution himself, Monkey D. Dragon." Even news of that man had reached Bard's town once in a while, so at least he knew what Zan was talking about. "Right now, the Marine higher-ups are trying to decide between two very powerful men who want to claim the open title of Shichibukai. One of those men is a Revolutionary deserter and one of our greatest enemies, Jack Aguila. I was sent on a mission to assassinate him, and I almost succeeded." Bard's eyebrows shot up, knowing how powerful these Shichibukai can be. If there was ever news regarding some fight between two world-shifting entities, Bard was always the fist in town to know about it and the last to ever shut up about it.

"But you didn't" Bard said, beings suddenly objective. Zan nodded.

"I wasn't supposed to" he explained. "Dragon demanded that I pull out and only deliver a warning, leave someone else to finish my job...it was the first time Dragon ever told me to _not_ kill someone." Bard was staring intently through Zan, trying to picture how such a scenario would have played out. An assassin, born and trained to kill or be killed, retreating from an enemy only an inch away from a killing blow.

"Who is supposed to finish it then?" Bard asked. Zan shrugged casually. The conversation ended there, as Zan started fusing down and away at the sound of rushing, stomping feet as the crew made its way into the captain's bedroom.

* * *

"Where is he!?" one armed pirate shouted. A rifle was fired, right at Bard, who's instinct forced him backwards at the waist to dodge the bullet by a hair. Araly screamed as the bullet just barely went under her hammock. The pirates were silent, except the one who went sulking forward to check on his captain.

"C-captain? Are you alright?" Bard twitched a few times from the strain his abs and his back. "Captain?" he asked with more worry. Bard's body snapped forward, delivering a vicious head butt to his accidental assailant and sending him flying across the room and off the sturdy wall behind the frightened group of pirates.

"What the hell, MAN!?" Bard shouted at the quivering, unconscious lump on the floor. His crew mates gathered around and picked him up to take him down to the impromptu sick bay. Bard stood rubbing his head after downing the bone-thick forehead of his underling while the present members of the crew were staring at him with horror.

"I think he's more dangerous than the assassin" one guy whispered. Everyone nodded and shuffled out of the room. "Sorry to trouble you sir..." on said as he shut the door. Bard caught the door before it could be shut and marched onto the deck, where the pirates were all standing at attention in case the assassin came back. Bard reeled back and drew in a deep breath.

"ZAN!" he shouted to the heavens. "IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANYWHERE TO GO, THAN JUST STAY HERE JOIN MY CREW!!" The crew all made the same horrific gasping faces as their Captain straightened up and crossed his arms impatiently. Zan heard him from below the deck and melded his way up, right in front of him. Everyone readied to fire or charge or do whatever to defend their captain and themselves when Bard extended his hand. Zan took it and they shook. Then, no one charged.

"I've got nothing better to do" Zan said. "What the hell, sure." Bard grinned his wide, happy grin, and everyone calmed down a little.

"Storm!" Rez shouted. The crew all perked up at once, like a flock of geese to the sound of a gun, and they all went scurrying about. Most of them went down below, but the bigger, stronger guys stayed up on deck, pulling ropes and tugging on lines, trying their hardest to get the massive sail up. Zan watched them with a varied astonishment, that such a rag-tag group was so well coordinated at a moment's notice.

"What do I do?" Zan shouted over to Bard.

"Are you better with heavy stuff or confusing machinery?" Bard shouted back. Zan thought for a minute before solidifying his answer.

"Machines" he yelled.

"Go down below and talk to Marco" Bard shouted before he hopped over, being blown slightly by the increasing wind. "He's the one with the bandanna." Zan nodded and went down below, surprising the other crew members.

"Where's Marco?" Zan asked.

"Grab that lever next to you and crank it!" a voice shouted at Zan. Zan followed the order, cranking the lever repeatedly, which moved the gears inside the mechanical tube he was inside earlier, which raised the huge heavy ropes that held the Grand sail. Bard steadied one side while his five strongest crew men steadied the other. Rez, being the most sturdy member, continued to steer ahead with the log on his wrist.

"Like a damn machine!" Zan exclaimed. The waves became rough, the winds became harsh, and the Buster Pirates flagship was ready to plow through yet another storm surge on the Grand Line.


	35. Hitting the High Seas of Adventure!

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Aboard the Buster Pirate's flagship, currently in-between logged islands and traveling briskly across the unpredictable waters of the Grand Line, the crew was on deck making a commotion over their newest little snag.

"GOOD LORD, WHY!?" Marco shouted.

"This just plain suck..." Zan said, dragging from his cigarette against the ship's railing.

"Of all the crazy crap we could run into," Rez said angrily, drawing his broadsword-cannon, "we had to run into this!"

"A-HA-HAWSOME!!" Bard shouted, the only pirate admiring the lethal Gigante Piranha of the Calm Belt's treacherous area. The massive fish-demon that swam beside the ship and roared didn't look hungry, but it wasn't going away. "Are there more of these things?" Bard asked.

"Who cares!?" his crewmen shouted. "Steer away from it!" Bard pouted and turned back to the fish, watching the sun reflect off its many human-sized scales. This was his first encounter with such a legendary thing, something he never thought existed, and he wanted to take it all in. "Hey Rez, are we still on course?" Bard shouted behind him. Rez was to busy loading his huge gun while Zan watched lazily.

"How should I know?" he screamed. He took a glance at the pose on his wrist to humor his imbecile captain but ended up doing a double take. "Everyone ignore the fish!" Rez shouted. The crew looked at him like he was crazy. "We need to pull a 180! We're going backwards!!" The crew decided to scramble, above and below deck, getting the Dampening sails ready to make a sharp turn. Bard, their captain, was busy getting his footing on the deck.

"What're you doing?" Zan asked as he scrambled to help.

"Saying goodbye, I guess" Bard said. "**Soru Jump!**" Bard disappeared with a loud blast on the wooden deck and the fish started to tilt a little. If one could look closely, they would see him next to the fishes eye. "Well, see ya" Bard said cheerfully to the monster piranha. "I hope you have a nice journey!" Bard jumped back, tilting the fish so much it was almost on its side, floundering its fins helplessly as they left the water. He landed with a thud back on the deck and yanked the sails up with one arm.

"What was that!?" Zan shouted in honest astonishment. The ship suddenly around, the winds picking up the Dampening sails, the ship heading straight once again. Bard hopped up to the forward deck where Rez was furiously holding down the wheel to turn the ship fully around, keeping a steady eye on his pose's needle as it turned.

"Rez!" Bard shouted over the loud splashing water. Rez glanced over his shoulder and nodded to affirm his attention to Bard. "I'm blaming you for getting us off course, so from now on you're our completely fleetless navigator, understand?" Rez let go of the wheel, sending the ship on a soft opposing direction shift so he could swing a mighty high kick into Bard's face. Bard stumbled back and Rez hopped back to retain his balance.

"Screw you, amateur!" Rez shouted. "I was an outlaw before you learned how to swim!"

"I doubt that" Bard fired back "cause I learned how to swim before I could even walk right!" Rez and Bard took a pause in their argument to snarl hatefully at each other. Bard smiled while he did, making his animal growl much more playful than Rez's. Soon, Rez huffed the incident off and pouted back to his wheel, steering the ship a few more degrees into the straightaway.

"Hey!" Rez shouted down to the deck, "Lower the Damp sails, we're good!" The pirates followed his orders and started working at getting the sails down. Then along came Bard, who did it by himself in no time whatsoever so he could go back and argue with Rez some more.

* * *

"Food call!" Marco shouted through the ship's built in PA system of amplification tubes. Every pirate on the expansive galleon rushed down into the mess hall beside the bunk room. A lavish, royal setting worthy of Fleet Admirals awaited them, with golden yards of rope for decoration and a fine dark-oak table that stretched to infinity. Bard sat at the far end nearest to the kitchen, while Rez sat opposite him. Zan sat right in the middle, sandwiched between the two parties of loyalty on the ship.

"We cooked all of today's catch" Marco narrated as he and his fellow cooks carried in the huge trays of meat, one after another with no end in sight. Bard was happy, droolingly happy, but Rez was glaring. He was so busy working up a nice, hot glare that he didn't notice the delicious food in front of him and his pirate loyals stole it from under his nose.

"Hey!" he shouted, snapping back to the present, "that's my chunk!"

"Like hell it is!" the thieving pirate snapped back. While Rez wrestled his stolen food away, another pirate swiped more meat from his plate. The table end became a comedy for the rest of the crew who watched on at close. Zan shifted occasionally between the mediocre slapstick with Rez and the debacle of human consumption that Bard was performing, eating whole fish bone and all without a minor gag.

"This is delicious!" Bard shouted happily, his cheeks brimming full with foodstuff. His loyals, the strongest and otherwise biggest pirates, were cheering him on as he stole from their respective caches of fish meat. Zan was entertained, as emotionless as he decided to show it, but he was a subsistence eater. He had well over eighty-percent of his fish left and more than half a cup of grog when he was unable to eat anymore.

"I don't think that girl is coming down here to eat" Zan said. He picked up his platter of food and emptied his cup to make room for water, then departed the long way for the deck.

"Hey!" he heard one pirate shout as he left, "who's steering?"

Up on the fore deck, Maxwell was snoring monstrously as his feet carefully nudged the wheel a few degrees in one direction. The pose was straight, dead ahead for only a few more days to whatever island they would get to. Zan passed him by and admired the evening sky, orange with a hint of light purple from the coming blue night. It was nice. He walked over to the captain's room and knocked on the door with his free hand.

"Who is it?" Araly asked from her hammock. Zan opened the door and entered unannounced.

"Catering" he joked. She closed the book she was reading and scowled at him, despite the fact that he was bringing her food. "I still don't know why you're so angry at me" he debated calmly. "I haven't done anything to you that I'm aware of." Araly huffed and picked at the food he handed her. Zan waited for a moment for some kind of reply, even an angry one, but seeing none too soon he sighed and started phasing through the wood.

"I don't agree with you" she said before Zan left completely. He stopped and phased back up.

"Eh?" he said.

"There are other ways to settle disputes" she started self-righteously, "even wars. Killing people isn't always an option. In fact, it never should be." Zan was moved by her, just a little, because he had often thought that as well...when he didn't know any better.

"You should tell that to Dragon" he joked. "I'll bet you can change his mind if you try." As Zan laughed softly to himself, Araly glared out of the corner of her eye.

"Well, whatever you do on this ship" she started in a very serious way "stay away from Bard." Zan froze for a second. "Bard may be strong, but he's very impressionable. If he's around a killer like you for too long, he'll become a killer too, and then what will I tell his mother?" She angrily chewed her food while Zan peered at her out of the corner of his eye in disbelief.

"I can't believe this" he said, holding a hand to his head. Araly looked at hi, with one eye open. "That old man was really right..."

"Who?" Araly prodded. "About what?"

"Dragon" he said nostalgically, "about me." Araly's eyes poured over with terror for a moment. "He always told me that to be a truly great man, I have to have a greater wind at my back. You know who Dragon idolizes the most as the wind that guides him?" Zan asked. Araly shook her head, not from not knowing the answer but from not wanting to know anything about such a heinous man. "...his wife..." Araly started to choke. It was too much for her, comparing the Revolutionary to a normal person. Zan rushed over and phased his fingers steadily into her throat, pulling out the offending chunk of bone and tossing it out before descending through the floor stealthily.

"No no NO!" Araly shouted in her solace. "I don't want to be on the same ship as him! I;ll get an enormous bounty for sure!!" She started kicking in her hammock and nearly fell out, but her common sense kicked back in and she caught herself. "...right" she started. "Right! Bard's the Captain here, so I just have to tell him to kick Zan off the ship!" She was smiling at first, but then her smile got wiped away. "Oh, but Bard was so excited to get a new member like that" she said sadly. "I can't tell him to do that..." A black cloud of confusion was gathering in her mind.

* * *

"Woah" Zan said, peeking into the dinning hall upside down from the woodwork. "I missed on great party." Indeed, the signs of a pirate party were present. More than half the crew was unconscious, the furniture was broken, and Bard and Rez were standing across the room from each other ready to fight. Rez had his huge sword out and Bard just stood with a smile and crossed arms. Zan dropped down and landed elegantly into a still-intact seat. "Begin!" he shouted. Neither man made a motion to charge, but instead Rez stowed his weapon and equipped a crooked smile of his own.

"I've got an idea!" he announced. Bard, Zan, and the still awake pirates listened in. "We'll have a contest to decide who the Captain of the Buster Pirates will be!" Zan leaned in, intrigued, while Bard tilted his head curiously. "Not only that, but the Captain will get to name the ship! After this, no one else can try to be captain again. Hell, even I'll settle for it!"

"No way" Bard declared. "We already had a contest, remember? I won" Rez snapped into a snarl at the mention of that cheap trick."

"Yeah!" one of Bard's drunken faithfuls shouted. "Bard's the Captain! Max said so!"

"MAX IS TOO LAZY TO MAKE DECISIONS!!" Rez shouted with a flaming aura of hate. He panted with his arms tensely flexed for a while before his thoughts regathered. Before he could regain his ground, Bard stepped in.

"Well, fine Rez" he said with a cock-sure grin. "What can we do to convince you that I'm the Captain here?" Rez smiled deviously.

"Now that's more--"

"Hold" Zan interrupted, standing up with a cigarette out of nowhere in his mouth. "This contest should be open to everyone, so I'll participate as well" he announced. Rez clenched his teeth and growled in anger, while Bard just shrugged.

"Sure, that's fine" he said.

"Alright!" Rez shouted again. "Tomorrow morning, we'll settle this! And I'll guarantee you, I'll win!" The three menacing men stared each other down in a triangular jolt of competitive glares. Zan glared at Rez who hatefully glared at Bard who was grinning at Zan. The remaining pirates had already crawled out and were retreating to the bunk room.

"Those guys are scary" one said.

"Just think" another mused, "at one point, they all could have been our enemies instead!"

"Shhh!" one of the husky pirates shushed, pulling his arms in close with fear. "You'll give us nightmares with that kind of talk!" The pirates nodded in agreement while they heard the stomping of feet in the next room of their superiors going off in their own directions to bed. Rez slept on the deck, Zan slept in the crow's nest and Bard of course went to his bedroom.

"Night Araly!" he cheerfully said as he hopped into his lavish bed. Araly listened to him stir restlessly from her hammock on the other side of the room and found it hard to relax on a ship filled with killers and marauding maniacs aplenty.

"Bard" she called. "I'm scared." Bard sat up and chuckled in his goofy, happy way that made Araly more curious than angry.

"Why?" he asked. "Everyone here's nice, even Rez in his own kinda cruel way. Plus, they all know how sick you get, so they won't bother you." Araly could feel herself drifting off already. "You've got nothing to worry about. We'll just circle the world and drop you off back at home, safe and sound, then you'll never have to worry about me again, okay?" She was already asleep. Bard smiled through the darkness, glad his last little quip had gone unheard. He knew how much pleasure Araly took out of watching Bard get hurt and how little she like the trouble he got into. Hopefully, one would outweigh the other somewhere on this majestic place, the Grand Line.

_...wait..._ Bard thought. _...is that right?_ Regardless, he slept like a log.


	36. Captain Challenge, Part Two

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The next morning was uncharacteristically calm for the Grand Line. The waves broke peacefully against the nameless Buster Pirate flag ship and the winds moved the clouds along with a slow, tranquil pace. Everything was finally still and peaceful for Araly, whose life on the Grand Line thus far had been nothing but confusing chaos and oddity. Even the bickered shouting of the three candidate captains couldn't stir her from her bliss atop the crows nest in her hammock.

"Now that the sun's out" Araly said to herself, trying to talk over the shouting below, "I can finally get a decent tan..."

"You're goin' DOWN, Cabin boy!" Bard's loudest pirate loyal shouted. The rest of the strongest yet stupidest pirates cheered on behind their smug acting-captain Bard.

"Ah, shut up you gorilla" Marco quietly threw back. The rest of the experienced, if not aged pirates grumbled in union behind the angry Rez.

"Oh?" Zan grunted, looking between the two sides compared to his. "Doesn't anyone support me?"

"You're an assassin!" one of Rez's pirates shouted angrily. "We're supposed to _dis_trust you completely!"

"Don't worry Zan!" Bard said enthusiastically. "Even though we're on separate teams, I'll still cheer for you!" Bard's appreciation came through as a little arrogant and sarcastic to Zan, but he chuckled and nodded anyway with no one behind him. "Okay, let's start" Bard said.

"Start what?" Rez asked, "We didn't even decide how we'd do this..." The ship trailed off into an awkward silence, both boys kicking their feet in embarrassment. No one said a word.

"Fighting contest" one of Bard's pirates whispered to him. Bard heard it and snapped into a fighting stance.

"Fighting Contest!" Bard shouted, his crew cheering behind him. Zan and Rez glanced at each other and gave a simultaneous slapping motion, followed by their sharp and precise

"No"

"Why not!?" Bard whined angrily.

"Because you'd win" Rez admitted. "We need something that any Captain and any regular person should be able to do.

"Fishing?" Bard asked.

"I can't swim" Zan said, "and I'm paranoid about the edges of ships. No fishing."

"Oh, come on!" Bard whined with an angry, gritted frown. "You said something a normal person could do!" Zan phased down through the deck and came back out opposite from where he was standing before.

"No one" he started with a cigarette in his mouth, "said I qualify for normal. I have a suggestion, though." Rez and Bard listened to him with huffed faces. "How about torture?" Zan suggested casually, like he's said that line dozens of times. Bard and Rez joined for a unison jaw-drop with added shadowed-brows in shock, with the other pirates giving similar looks of disgust and distrust.

"What do you mean, torture?" Marco asked with a nervous grin, hoping the answer wasn't obvious.

Zan took a drag from his cigarette and reiterated himself. "Torture."

"NO!" Bard ad Rez screamed with their hands out and slapped forward.

* * *

"It's a basic concept" Zan said from his stockade. "Whoever gives up last wins the round."

"Why torture?" Araly asked, hanging low between the sails on her hammock to watch wile still working on her skin. "Honestly, why?"

"Because" Zan started, "the life of a pirate, or any bandit on the sea in this tumultuous age of piracy is filled with pain and loss. Any good captain will be able to take such pain in stride, suffering for his beloved crew."

Bard sniffled from his enormous, mental stockade and bit his lip. "Dude, I hope you win" he said. Zan sighed and smiled nervously.

"Let's just do this" Rez demanded. "What's first?"

"You guys aren't allergic to any fruits or vegetables, are you?" Zan asked. Bard and Rez shook their heads no, and a huge cart of rotten foodstuff was wheeled out in front of the strongest, meanest looking pirates. Each on took up a handful of drippy, disgusting food and glared down their respective targets.

"We're sorry, Captain Bard" the biggest man said with tears in his twitching eyes. "But we'll throw our hearts along with this fruit, so we can become strong with you!"

"That's great!" Bard said, happily and honestly.

"GO!" Zan shouted. At his signal, the rot flew like sideways hail. Each man was pelted mercilessly, trying their hardest not to shout or keep their mouths open. Referees were keeping watch, mainly over Zan, who was letting himself stay locked in and get pelted with the stuff.

"Gah!" Araly gasped, pulling her hammock fabric up over her nose. "That's vile"

"Yeah!" Marco shouted, still whipping fruit like baseballs. "Imagine getting it in your mouth!" Araly gagged again, quite loud at that, perking up Bard's head to her painful coughs.

"Hey, time out!" Bard shouted with concern.

"No such thing" Zan shouted in between getting hit.

"You either give up or--" Rez started, but hushed himself before he got more than a tooth's covering of rotted juice. Bard became increasingly concerned with Araly's disgusted, almost painful groans, until he just snapped. He tore the stockade, made of metal, apart by throwing up his arms and flexing them, then hopped over while the throwers were still in shock. Rez's jaw nearly hit the floor, but Zan was unmoved.

"Hey! Araly!" Bard shouted. "Are you getting sick again?" Araly looked down and saw Bard,dripping with filth and disgust, so she reeled back up and gagged softly into her hammock pillow.

"Oh, I'm fine" she said weakly. "Go enjoy your stupid little contest."

"No way!" bard shouted demandingly. "I know you, and you sound sick! That hammock must be rocking with the ship to much, it's triggering your sea sickness. I'll fix it." Bard went hopping along to the masts that held up the sail and, for now, Araly's hammock while the crew watched on in more shock. Zan phased up through his stockade and let the grime fall off and through him.

"Well, that's that" Zan said.

"So, I win this one?" Rez affirmed.

"Nope" Zan answered, lighting another cigarette.

"WHAT!?" Rez protested, shaking his stockade around like a trapped animal. "No way, I held out the longest! I win!"

"Sure, you held out" Zan said. "But Bard leaped out and tried to take care of his crew. He abandoned his obligation of honor to help an underling, something that shines much brighter than just letting others get tormented for your sake..." Rez gave Zan a long, hard and painful stare.

"So the pelting with rotten crap was unnecessary?" Rez demanded.

"Well" Zan started, "how else was I supposed to make this work? She had to smell it to get sick of it, obviously." Rez growled and started cursing wildly, the crew taking their own sides up again. Bard loosened Araly's hammock so it could swing freely over the deck and brushed himself off.

"There" he happily confirmed. "That better?" Araly threw her pillow at him in an attempt to get his stench away. Bard gave her a thumb up and back away towards his happy, cheering men. They lifted him up on their shoulders, then quickly threw him down and groaned painfully.

"Cap'n, you stink!" the largest one said.

"Alright" Zan said. "Let's all take a break to wash up then meet up back here for the next two challenges. Bard won this one, of course, but I doubt he'll win the next." Zan phased down through the deck and into the washroom in the crew quarters, followed hastily by Bard who was beginning to dislike his new stink. Rez was still trapped, and looking nervously at Bard's loyalists. They evilly grinned with fruit and other rotted lumps in hand at Rez, who snarled and winced at the oncoming punishment.

* * *

"Okay" Zan said after everyone was gathered again. "This next test won't be so easy. It's still about pain for your crew's pride, but a bit different." Bard was clean, to his pleasure, but Zan was angry and still dripping with filth and visibly smelly.

"How different is a bit?" Bard asked. Zan looked over at him, having never heard a question phrased in such a way that didn't sound outright stupid.

"How about this:" Zan said. "It involves food." Bard got instinctively excited at that part.

"No thanks" Rez said. "I've had enough food to fuel my nightmares for a good few decades."

"Then, don't try" Zan said, intentionally mocking Rez without trying. "Bard and I will compete by ourselves and you'll be tossed out of the running."

"Screw that!" Rez fired back, immediately after Zan had finished. "I'm in. What's to do?" Zan drew from his cigarette, as was his style, and explained with instructions.

"Marco" he said. Marco glanced over from his posse. "Isn't it nearly lunch time?"

Bard's stomach growled loudly in response, as loud as a Sea King one would think. "Yes" Bard said pumping his arm with a spot of happy, hungry drool on his face.

"Alright then" Marco said. "Is lunch the challenge?"

"Not quite" Zan said, being careful not to say anything that would give his plan away. "Just prepare as big a meal as possible. Don't be concerned with rations, just cook everything." The pirates jumped at Zan's instructions, and everyone rushed down below deck leaving Max to steer over supper. "Bard, ask Araly if she wants to watch."

"No!" Araly groaned loudly. Zan shrugged and walked towards the door to the below deck.

"So, are we having an eating contest?" Bard asked eagerly.

"Of course not!" Rez shouted. "It's not that simple."

"That" Zan continued on Rez's behalf, "and you'd already have won if it were. You're purely inhuman in many facets, Bard, but your control is lacking." Bard blinked confusedly. "And you, Rezland, you're impatient. Very much so. That's as detailed as I'd like to get with you." Rez sneered with insult. "I myself am still sickened from earlier, so this should be an equal spread of difficulty."

"What are we doing?" Bard asked.

"We're not eating" Zan said. "That's it." Zan proceeded down the stairs, like he was normal, followed by an eager to compete Rez. Thus leaving Bard to sulk in horror in front of the door frame.

"...Not...eat?" he mumbled. "How? That...doesn't make sense..."

"What, Bard?" Araly asked, hanging precariously on the string of rope she had strentch between the fore deck's rail and her hammock.

"Where'd that come from?" he asked. As she was about to answer, Bard continued with a whiny tone. "Our challenge is to 'not eat'. What does that mean?" Araly looked down at him pitifully, then she heard his stomach. For some reason unknown to even Bard and her own family, Bard's stomach growling always made Araly giggle. At least she looked happy, and Bard looked happy to despite his horrible pain of hunger.

"Just resist temptation" Araly plainly explained. "If you get hungry, distract yourself with something, like a book or--" Araly paused. She glared ahead, wondering if Bard could read at all, let alone what her idea of a book was. Bard felt at his inner breast pocket, finding his book given to him by Captain Mars comfortably inside.

"Thanks, Araly" Bard said, hopping down the steps. "I'll bring you back some food. Don't fall off your web, though!"

"It's a system," Araly argued, "not a web!" She huffed and started tight-rope walking back to her hammock. She stopped, though, and turned around to the monstrous snoring of the old man at the wheel. She carefully walked over and leaned against the railing, feeling dizzy from doing so.

"Say Max," she asked, not particularly hoping for a response, "does piracy usually make men crazy?" Max snored in response, so Araly daintily skipped off back across the deck.

* * *

"Okay!" Marco shouted, bringing in a steaming cart full of fresh, cooked, juicy steaks and fish platters the likes of which Bard had only dreamed of since he came to the Grand Line. "Lunch is served, for the crew!" The crew cheered and rushed in to devour it, Viking style (with their bare hands grabbing and gobbling). "You Captains are making the sacrifice to put your men first and letting us eat while you starve. How kind!" His fake niceties wasted, he turned to join his friends in feasting.

To distract themselves from the pain of hunger, the candidates all took up different ways to pass the time until they were the last ones standing. Rez took out and looked over his gunblades. Zan meditated on the floor. Bard, the crew favorite, was seen reading a worn-out book intently in the corner. He quickly flipped through several pages, scoffing them off as 'boring', until something caught his eye.

_**Tekkai**_ Bard read internally. _That looks neat..._


	37. Captain Challenge, Part Three

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Hour four wasn't going sos well for the captains to be. Rez was pouting angrily, raging when his stomach growled. Zan was still meditating, but even his minimalistic appetite was working itself up. Bard acknowledged his stomach's growling like someone acknowledges a cold wind. It happens and it can be annoying, but who really cares. His mind was occupied entirely by his book.

* * *

_The Defense Arts 1. Tekkai_

_Tekkai involves a hardening of one's muscular structure, from head to toe, so the body imitates steel. This allows for a passive defense that requires little energy but comes with great results. Physical damage is almost always negated while one uses Tekkai. Entire battles can be turned around because of this technique. Blows powerful enough to damage metal will still have an effect on the user. Tekkai is also only an external defensive mechanism, and cannot be used to protect against attacks that occur from within or from Rokuogan when properly delivered. Keep in mind that as the body imitates steel, it becomes difficult for the user to move, as if they were truly made of steel._

_The proper practice for Tekkai involves a source of outside input to master. First, measure the degree of pain you can take normally. Find someone to train with you who will hit or otherwise harm you on a skin-level and have them do it until there is no pain. Relocate the locations where the pain is delivered regularly, and do not confuse numbness with solid muscular deflection. The user should still a very muted sensation of touch along the course of mastery. Regularly increase the level of pain, from pinch to smack to punch, until the feeling from anything is faded. Once physical pain can no longer be used to advance training, switch to basic weaponry such as wooden swords._

* * *

Bard kept reading, deeply enthralled in his lecture and not falling asleep for the first time that he could remember while reading. Any book that detailed some form of fighting technique capture his attention for days on end. Anything else in text was a waste of his time.

"Oh, that's cool" Bard muttered mindlessly. Zan opened an eye in his direction, curious to see how Bard was coping with the hunger. He turned and caught him reading a book with ancient looking pages mixed in with more recent looking pages on a faded, cracked cover. Zan became curious, but not enough to move and see what he was reading. He turned back and continued meditating.

As for Rez, the aspect of torture was finally becoming clear for him a he stared down the huge platter of cool food that was still left. In the dining room there were still pirates working and loafing about. Some played cards and others were building a table out of spare wood from the main hold above.

"Hey" Bard shouted, not letting his eyes leave his book. "Either all of you work or none of you work. The imbalance is disturbing me..." The pirates looked at him with a strange feeling of quiet astonishment. It was as if Bard didn't realize how long he had been in this challenge.

"Say, Captain" the biggest pirate called out shyly while the others picked up and prepared to help, "What'cha reading?"

"Huh?" Bard called out, finally prying his eyes away with a firm understanding of what he'd read. "Oh, a training book for some martial arts. It's pretty cool. There's some other stuff in here, too." He flipped through the pages of the book, trying hard to ignore all the porn that Mars had inexplicably placed between the major areas of text.

"What martial arts?" the pirate again asked, holding down a board of wood for the others to hammer.

"Uh, Rug-something. I can't pronounce it that good." Bard explained. He closed the book and stuffed it in his inner coat pocket again, patting it safely. "Hey, who wants to help me train?" Bard asked.

"What do we have to do?" one of the pirates asked in dread.

"Just wail on me for a while" Bard said, flexing a happy hand and thumb. "Am I still in the contest if I leave the kitchen?" Bard asked the silent Zan.

"Sure" Zan said. "Just make sure you don't eat or drink anything."

"'Kay" Bard said. "C'mon, men, let's beat me up on the deck!" The eager pirates roared out and left some of the stronger, more devoted men behind to continue their construction.

"Can I take a nap?" Rez asked weakly.

"Go for it" Zan said. "As long as you don't eat you're-" Rez hit the floor hard and started snoring and moaning in pain...Smoarning...

* * *

"What else can we do?" a strong pirate asked excitedly. Bard scratched his head with one hand and scanned his book with the other.

"Punching and Kicking are in" Bard said, trying not to add any committal tone, "but just above the belt for now."

"Great!" the pirates said. "To be honest, I feel kinda bad about this, but if it'll help us all get strong then I'm in!"

"Great" Bard said happily, stowing his book again. "Okay, read-" Before he could say ready, his loyalist pirate gang started punching and kicking that crap out of him. Bard was unprepared for the first few seconds, but focused his energy into his skin once he was balanced again.

_Concentrate _Bard said to himself. _It's the same principal in general Kung-Fu and Sumo. Become heavy and unmovable, like a mountain. A mountain made of steel!...Ow, these guys can hit pretty hard. It's starting to really hurt. Okay, I guess I'll just try the technique now..._ Bard straightened up, his head peaking over the pirates assaulting him, and he flexed. Not just did he flex, but he flexed every muscle he could, even those in his face, which made him flushed and tense in the face.

"Hey, you alright Cap'n?" one asked, still punching him anyway. Bard didn't talk. He realized how stupid he must've looked to work up some concern, so he calmed down. In an instant, he felt a calm area where his breathing became short and his face became straight and emotionless. He could see the punches and kicks, but they felt like gently pokes and strokes. He tried his hardest to concentrate on the feeling, but it was lost as a massive wave splashed up on the deck and soaked everyone.

"Crap" Bard said stiffly. He snapped out of his more awkward Tekkai and became limp and wiggly. "We're in a storm again! Get the sails ready!"

"Yessir!" the pirates shouted. They ran off and told the others about Bard's forecast and the ship was set once again for a storm. Down below, Rez was awake and painfully glaring at the pile of food, which was cold and unappetizing by now. Even Zan was considering cutting his losses and letting the others have this win for now and make it up later.

"Oh, good god" Rez moaned. "I need to eat."

"Don't give in, Rez!" one pirate shouted. "Just concentrate!" Rez looked at him, then slowly turned his head back to the food. It was tempting him to a maddening degree. Zan was smoking to distract himself, but even he was eying down the still dry slices of bread that wen untouched by the blood-hungry pirates.

"Man, this is harder than I thought it'd be" Zan commented. Rez's eyes went blank for a moment in rage.

"THEN WHY DO IT!?" Rez shouted with all his diminished strength.

"You two!" Marco shouted for the stairs. "Stop dying for a sec and come up here! We're caught in a swell!" Zan kept his cigarette in his mouth and rushed off with renewed vigor in duty. Rez propped himself up on his huge cannonsword and shakily tried to stagger to the stairs. Then he noticed that no one was around. The other pirates had left out the other door to help above, Zan was gone...but the food was still there. Despite his determination and discipline, Rez had never been as depravedly starved before in his life.

"Screw it!" he whispered, dropping to his feet and picking apart the disgusting food with relish.

"I saw that!" Zan called from above, half-fused into the ceiling. "You lose!" then he left, leaving Rez with a wide open mouth and a repressed anger that would take quite a while to vent.

* * *

"Zan!" Bard called out into the lower deck. "Where's Rez?"

"He lost" Zan replied. "It's you and me here on out." Bard was sad at that news, but the brewing storm gave him worse concern.

"Where's the log pose, then?" Bard shouted down.

"Yo!" Marco said, holding it up proudly.

"Get up and help me steer!" Bard ordered. Marco dashed up into the building rain and they both took the wheel. Marco shouted his instructions over the wind and waves while Bard effortlessly ordered the ship about with his strong arms. His arms didn't give slack, despite how tired his muscles were, and his feet didn't move from their planted places as he twisted the wheel around to direct the ship.

"This is hard!" Bard commented in surprise, spinning the wheel to his mate's directions. The rest of the crew held out their own, tugging ropes and spinning gears. Zan helped by operating the more complex machines from within, finding it easier to manipulate the levers and ropes from inside the constructs.

"This is insane!" Zan commented, twisting random gears and pulling other random ropes. On the main deck, the sails were all up and the ship was barreling through the storm with no effort at all. Such massive power and precision in the huge, lofty galleon gave surprise to the seasoned adventurers aboard.

"This rocks!" the burly pirates all cheered.

"Have you ever seen a ship this big move like this?" another asked. Astounded questions abound down below where everyone was happy to be alive in the protective hull of their giant ship.

"It's great, isn't it?" Bard remarked, looking ahead to the icy-clue sky. "This ocean is amazing!" The rain stopped without warning or even slow down. The waves became calm and tranquil again. The warm ocean breeze picked up and blew over the damp and soaked pirates on deck. Everything was right again.

"So," Marco started, "tell me. What will you name this thing if you win?" Bard looked at him and took a second to think. His mind drew a blank for a moment, but as the Grand sail unfurled, his mind snapped out a brilliant idea.

"The Imperial Dragon!" Bard shouted spontaneously. "That will be the name of the ship we Buster Pirates rip through the ocean on if I am to be the captain! And I will be" Bard said with great finality, "just wait and see!" His resounding confidence made Marco, jaded as he was, crack a confident smile.

"HOORAY, CAPTAIN BARD!" one pirate cheered on his way up to the deck. Zan even phased up through the wood behind Bard and gave him a solid pat on the back.

"Here, captain" one pirate said, handing Bard a cup. "Have a drink for victory."

"Okay!" Bard said, swilling the wine in the cup in one solid gulp. The crew look at him with total disbelief, and it wasn't until a few moments later that Bard realized what he had done. "AHHH! CRAP!!"

"I win" Zan said. Rez stepped forward, being the one who stealthily tricked Bard into throwing his game, and laughed haughtily at Bard. Bard hung his head down in shame and bit his quivering lip.

"Cheer up Bard" the burly loyalists said. "You'll still win." To that Bard sniffled once, then shot his head up with a beaming, happy smile of raw confidence. "That was easy" the pirates nervously commented.

"What's next, Zan?" Bard asked. Zan was leaving down the steps to the main deck floor and gave a shrug as he kept walking downward into the wood. Marco's lips pursed like a fish in surprise.

"I'll never get used to that" Marco said with a cringe. "Looks like you two have to fish for dinner" he directed at the losers. Bard sighed and took off his jacket, then gave it to a random pirate.

"Can you put that in my room for me?" he asked politely. The pirate saluted and ran over to the aft deck while Bard stretched his aching muscles and prepared to jump into the ocean of crystal blue.

"Can't you fish normally?" Rez asked meanly. Bard turned to him with a smile and replied

"Nope!" Then, he jumped and spun elegantly into the water. Rez watched after him with some strange sense of confidence. He felt that Bard was a strong young man, one with a sense of destiny, a guy he could follow if he had too. Then he remembered how annoying Bard is and dismissed the chances of losing the next challenge no matter what.

_I was close_ Bard thought as he swam around, looking at the various marine life that he could eat. _I could feel myself in the zone, like I knew what I was doing. I could feel 'Tekkai' working, so I just need to remember it. The relaxation I got while I was getting beat up. I forgot my life was on the line and it worked, that's it! If I can abandon my natural sense of pain, I'll be able to flex my muscles to extreme measures, like an adrenaline rush or something. Yeah!_

"Yeah!" Bard shouted, underwater, then realized it and grabbed for the air bubbles that rose from his mouth. He smiled stupidly and caught the view of a delicious looking shark stalking him. He smiled a challenge at the fish and got ready to catch it with both his massive arms.


	38. Captain Challenge, Part Four

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"FISH!" Bard shouted through the galley. He carried a huge platter of fresh, raw shark decorated in exotic herbs and balled with rice. Each serving of rice and shark meat was about the size of Bard's own fist, but the daunting size didn't deter the still starving Rez who grabbed three at once and gulped them down swiftly.

"That's no good" Zan commented. "I usually eat fork-and-knife foods."

"Try it!" Bard encouraged, taking one and magically eating it in one vicious gulp. "They're really good fresh."

"How can you tell?" Zan asked. "Did you even taste it?" Regardless, Zan pick one up and bit into it. The shark meat was tough, but oddly sweet. The salty content made Zan feel a sinking feeling, of course, but the rice out-balanced it enough that it was barely noticeable. The other spices used of course gave the dish a lavish, juicy kick. "I need to make sure you lose this next challenge" Zan commented to Bard. "This is delicious."

"Better than cold, dry meat and damp vegetables" Rez said, referring to his earlier 'meal'.

"Heh. You guys are too nice" Bard said, eating another ball. "I cook stuff like this all the time...granted, I don't actually cook anything..." Rez paused for a moment from chewing and looked over at Bard with great hesitance.

"What does that mean?" Rez asked with his mouth full.

"You know, it's sushi!" Bard explained. "Raw fish meat." Rez let out a muffled scream with wide, watery eyes, then proceeded to remove the food from his mouth as quickly and disgustingly as possible all over the floor. Bard and Zan both watched him curiously.

"So Zan" Bard redirected, "what's the next challenge?" Zan turned away and forced his food down. His eyes looked analyzing and emotionless, just like they always did, but with the subtle glow of deep thought.

"I'm not sure" Zan replied. "Then again, I didn't think we'd get through the first two challenges in one day...I'm at a loss." Bard leaned back in his chair and attempted to think for him, posing thoughtfully with his finger stroking his face.

"How about this" Rez began, pulling himself up from the floor. "Let's all eat Bard's cooking and see who dies last."

"Nah" Bard declined. "Araly would win."

"Oh, speaking of whom" Zan interrupted, "why isn't she in on this as well?"

"Because it's insane and juvenile" Bard quickly replied. A short silence followed of his fellows staring him down. "That's what she thought about it." Zan nodded in acceptance.

"That girl is quite angry, isn't she?" Zan said. Then, a sudden snap of realization hit him. "Maybe she'd like to help us?" Zan suggested slyly. Bard and Rez furrowed their brows at him, wondering just what he meant.

* * *

"No" Araly sternly said, sipping from a cup of tea suspended beside her hammock. Over time, the entire bedroom began to look like her own personal spider web of joined cloths that acted as slides and beds and seat that were expertly fastened down to even the slightest outcropping of the wood. Bard was asking on behalf of he and his elective captains for her help in deciding a sufficient form of torture, but she was begrudged to help anyone do anything pirate-like at all.

"Please, Araly?" Bard begged. "We're all out of ideas." Araly took another sip form her tea to heighten his suspense but answered the same.

"No." Her response made Bard sink down to his hands and knees in defeat.

"We can't choose a captain without a properly painful challenge!" Bard whined. "Come on, Araly! You know how much fun you have watching me get hurt!"

"Yeah, that's true" Araly shamelessly admitted. "Still, I don't want to advocate you to be a Pirate captain, let alone a pirate. I'll turn myself in as a captive of you and this motley crew and be taken back harmlessly to our home when I get the chance..." Bard was looking up at her in disbelief. He never considered that she would be so desperate to get away from the Grand Line without him.

"Well" Bard started anew, "can wee at least borrow some cloth?"

"Why?" Araly asked skeptically. "Are you guys going to hang yourselves off the back of the ship and see how long you can take not seeing where you're going while you act like sea monster bait?" As she rolled her eyes and turned around, Bard was struck with a lightning bolt of inspiration. He rose up with a smile and Araly picked up on his emanating aura of building stupidity. "...no, Bard" Araly said. He ignored her and gathered up several longs cords of rope fashioned from long sheets of fabric. "Bard, I refuse to let you do this!" she screamed, but it was too late. Moments later, up on deck, the plan was approved and the men were set down in their firm harnesses to dangle over the water until they decided to be pulled back up.

"I'm not liking this one" Zan said very nervously. Then, he turned to Bard in the middle with a smile and a thumb up. "Nice job!"

"It's mostly Araly's idea" Bard admitted.

"NO WAY!" Araly shouted from her hastily-made hammock on the aft deck. "I'm not taking any credit for this stupidity!" She pouted back into her hammock with a sternly angry face.

"Please cheer up, Miss Araly" one of the pirates said. "Their lives are in your hands for now!" It was true. The ropes that held them all up were tied in a bunch at the leg of Max's chair. His snoring had subsided in place of very deep breathing and alternating yawns.

"Why does he sleep all the time?" Araly asked.

"It helps him regulate his blood flow" Marco explained "so the poison blood doesn't spread too fast."

"And how long has he been doing that?" Araly reiterated.

"That's not the point right now" Rez demanded. "Just make sure you pull us up if we decide to give up."

"Or if someone faints" Bard added.

"And rope us down some food at night" Zan continued to add.

"I'm not a maid!" Araly shouted.

"Well miss" Marco said definitively, "we leave our Captain's life in your hands, whichever one decides to give up last."

"What about sleep?" Araly shouted down below. "Can you guys differentiate between fainting and sleeping?"

"Irrelevant" Zan replied. "This is a psychological test. No one will sleep that wants to win."

"Really?" Bard asked honestly. "I thought this was just us hanging from the ship over water."

"How exactly is that sufficient torture?" Zan asked. Just then, Rez began uncomfortably twisting in his harness. "What's up?"

"I have to take a leak" Rez explained. Bard simply motioned his hands in Rez's direction to clarify his point and Zan sighed with his face in his hand.

"If you guys keep talking like that" Araly shouted down "I'll just leave."

"Sorry!" Bard replied. Araly rustled herself into her hammock and curled up with a book that was in the bedroom. She had already read several novels, all about romance and drama, and now she was working on the eighth. She happily sat reading while the crew worked to make sure the ship sped along briskly to get to the next island still a few days away. The sun was setting across the glistening ocean water, illuminating the rippling waves that crashed against the sides of the boat futilely.

"This isn't so bad" Bard said, crossing his legs in the air.

"Indeed" Zan said in agreement. "We may be here for a while."

"Can you guys not talk for a bit?" Rez asked sternly. "I really have to piss right now and the water noise isn't helping!"

"Then just go" Zan suggested. "There's nothing but ocean down there anyway, who'll care?" Just then, Zan felt his harness drop an increment, but he jumped in life-ending terror all the same. "That wasn't funny!" he blared up to the ship.

"Aw, poor Mr. Killer" Araly mocked from the deck. "Is you afwaid of da watah?" Her cutesy tone bore down on Zan, making him blush in anger. He pulled out a cigarette from his pants pocket and lit it up under his shady brow.

* * *

"Say Zan" Bard started. "I wanna know something." Zan looked over and breathed his smoky air in. "Why are you an assassin? It seems like a...negative career to have." Zan blew out a stream of smoke and took out his cigarette.

"When I was a kid" he started, "I ate the Meld Meld Fruit. Soon after that, a group of pirates came and raided my village in the South Blue in hopes of finding the fruit. I ran away, and watched my entire life burn to the ground. Ever since then I made my living off of my power, using it to rob and pillage as much as possible until I got involved with the wrong people..."

"Long story short" he concluded, "those people were the Revolutionary Army and their leader gave me a solid job. I've been Dragon's personal hitman for about four years now..." He continued to smoke from his cigarette as Bard looked on his with a serious face but a satisfied outlook.

"That's a neat story" Rez said sarcastically, zipping up his pants and turning back around. "Now shut it and concentrate on the horizon."

"Why?" Bard asked.

"To help the time pass" Rez said.

"I think talking helps the time to pass." Bard said.

"Whatever" Rez huffed. The light started to dim from the other end of the ship. The pirates took turns steering through the night while others took turns fishing and maintaining the ship from the under deck, which they all referred to as the 'Operations' or Op Deck. Araly was soundly sleeping, as was Max, with the ropes holding fast under his oddly disproportionate weight.

As the night came, sleep began to overcome the participants. Even worse than not eating with food in plain sight was not sleeping after such a long and exhausting day of pointless torture and pain. Bard began nodding off occasionally, but Zan kicked him to keep him up. Without the proper energy all he could muster was a brief grunt of thanks. Zan's energy was wearing thin as well, but he was able to concentrate on the water to stay awake. As for Rez, he always demanded that his eyes were just closed, not that he was sleeping, when prodded by Bard.

"This is getting insane" Rez said, making Bard jump. "We shouldn't have to do this under such extraordinary conditions."

"Meaning what?" Zan demanded.

"It's a peaceful night on the Grand Line" Rez said. "That in itself is a huge contradiction. Do you know how hard it is to get any sleep on this damn ocean?"

"Hey Rez" Bard said sleepily, "I've got a question for you."

"Fire away" Rez said, allowing his exhaustion to cloud his better judgment against letting his rivals speak.

"If you win, what will you name this ship?" was Bard's inquiry. Rez only had to think for a second, but he had his answer prepared beforehand.

"'The Heavenly Tiger'" Rez said proudly. "It's a good name, right?"

"Meh" Bard replied apathetically. "I like mine better."

"I wanted to name it 'The Shadow of Destiny'" Zan interjected. Rez just pointed an angry, shaking finger at him with a heavy scowl. Suddenly, Rez's face changed to concern when he saw Bard. Bard was looking down at the water with bulging eyes and an open mouth. "Bard, what's up?" Zan asked. He and Rez both followed his frightened gaze and returned with frightened gazes of their own.

"What's that?" Bard asked quiveringly, pointing down to a monster that swam just under the surface.

"I'm not sure" Zan started, "but I think it's a Sea King..."

"Yeah" Rez continued "but what kind?" The monster's head slowly peaked up above the surface of the water, its body below keeping steady pace with the ship. It's huge mouth extended up and outwards from its slender, serpentine head, riddled with terrible fangs below its beady, yellow eyes.

"It's the 'Happy Ripper'" Zan said despairingly. "A Sea King that can be found in the Grand Line. It's huge mouth is strong enough to bite apart a Marine battleship..."

"Oh" Bard said. "That's bad." The monster growled at the dangling men who found a renewed energy in the adrenaline they got from the unbridled terror they were experiencing at the moment. Its growling was low but terrifying, prompting Bard to say the obvious to Zan.

"I didn't plan this..." he admitted modestly.


	39. Captain Challenge, Final

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Araly was fast asleep, rocking gently in her hammock that dangled neatly above the wooden floor. The waves rocked the entire ship like a cradle, all the pirates sleeping at their positions. Only Marco stayed awake to steer and navigate, but the siren-like temptation of the cool ocean breeze coupled with the ship's motion made it all the more difficult not to fall over. He let out a loud and long yawn of exhaustion.

"Those boys" he mumbled "are stronger men than any of us. One of them better win soon..." Back at the opposite end of the ship those very boys were dangling silently and motionlessly ,trying their damn hardest not to attract the monster's attention to themselves. The Happy Ripper smiled it's wide, cheeky smile across its thin face, eying them each down as to who would make a proper midnight snack.

"This is bad" Bard reminded Zan to his side.

"Really?" Rez whispered angrily. "Is this really bad!?" The monster shifted quickly over to him and he was silenced. The Sea King was running their conversations now.

"It's a god thing" Bard started "that you can just melt through him, Zan."

"Not through this thing" Zan said sorrowfully. "I can't meld through anything that comes into contact with saltwater." The monster darted its vision back at Zan, who shut up and considered his moves. _I can either slip through the ropes and into the ship, _he planned, _or I can try to get it away without leaving my harness._

"I have an idea" Bard announced quietly.

"No" Rez immediately fired. Zan ignored the obvious bias of Rez and leaned in while the monster kept shifting its gaze.

"You guys leave" Bard began, "and I'll distract it."

"No way!" Rez hushed fiercely, not caring about the monster that eyed him angrily anymore. "I'm not leaving this harness and losing! I'm staying here the whole time, and I'm gonna be the captain!"

"Technically Bard and I already have our wins in" Zan explained. "Even if you won this one contest you'd still have to win another to actually be the captain." Rez looked distraught, especially because Bard was nodding his head.

"Yeah," Bard said. "That's how the numbers crunch for me."

"SHUT UP!!" Rez screamed over the ocean waters. Even the monster reeled back a bit and turned down the corners of its mouth. "You shouldn't even be here anyway! What do you know about sea life? Or about being a pirate!? You're just a kid!"

"I doubt that you're much older than me!" Bard defended.

"It's not about age!" Rez shouted. "It's about experience! You can't steer this boat to save anyone's life and you barely know about this sea at all!"

"Hey, guys?" Zan attempted. "The monster?" The monster even whined a little to try and get their attention back on it, but ti didn't work.

"Hey, I've lived by the sea my whole life!" Bard continued to defend righteously. "I've met plenty of pirates and even Marines who all knew more about the sea than you do!"

"They don't count!" Rez demanded. "Even if you saved all our lives right now, I wouldn't accept you! You're just a kid!!" Bard took that to particular offense and prepared to counter with whatever he could muster up.

"You know what!?" Bard screamed. The heated emotional content of the air woke up Araly in a grump, stirred the monster's curiosity as to what easier meals it could catch, and forced all the anger of the argument to rise up and culminate in a violent cloud on deck.

* * *

"SHUT THE HELL UP!!" Araly screeched. She picked up a block of wood, which happened to be Max's chair, and threw it full force at the monster that was just rising up. The chair impacted and broke square on it's beady little eye. At first, there was a silent shock from Araly realizing what she just hit and the amount of time it took for the ridiculous pain to register in the monster's brain. Once it did, there was a roar that nearly ripped the ocean apart.

"HH-GRAAAAAAHH!!" roared the monster. "KYAAAAAA!" shrieked Araly.

"ARALY!!" shouted Bard, who was prepared to undo his harness and forfeit at once. Unfortunately, without Max's weight holding down the ropes that the Captains-to-be hung by, they all plummeted closer to the ocean by a few feet. The jump was more than enough to jolt Zan into jumping out of his harness and sticking his daggers into the hull for support. A few seconds after his mouth was open from shock, Zan realized his error.

"Dammit" Zan cursed. "I lose." Unwilling to let his hot streak end with just a loss of psychological steadfast, Zan started climbing up the hull, trying hard to stick his knives into the super-dense hull. Bard decided to take action while he could.

"Hey, stupid sea-lizard!" Bard taunted, just barely catching its attention. Rez drew out his gunblade and fired straight into the side of the creature's head. The bullet impacted more than it penetrated, but blood was still drawn, forcing another unbearably painful roar from the Sea King. "Good shot, buddy!"

"I'm always a good shot!" Rez said arrogantly. He twirled his blade in his finger and sheathed it back in its holster, just as the creature prepared to bear down and eat them both. Bard swung back and kicked off the ship, flying forward like a deadly pendulum.

"HA-KYA!" Bard grunted, delivering a flying, rising kick that sent flesh rippling away from the impact on the monster's hard skin. The Ripper's tongue was lashed out vertically in pain from the kick. Bard even pushed off and hit the back of the ship once again. The sound and, mostly, cannon proof hull prevented the crew from waking, but Marco was worse off.

"Ignore it, Marco" he muttered to himself. "It's nothing impor--" He was interrupted when the ship was violently slammed by the monster swinging it's head into its side. This woke up the crew by tossing most of the on top of each other or out of their bunk hammocks.

"What the hell was that!?" on pirate shouted. Pandemonium and panic soon broke out as everyone armed themselves and rushed up to the deck. Araly was still cowering in her hammock, afraid to open her eyes. Max's body was still holding down the other ropes lazily, but the rocking forced him to move and jerked both of the remaining boys down another good bit towards the ocean.

"This is getting worse by the second!" Rez shouted, looking for an open spot to shoot with his quick-draw. Bard decided to deliver another, horizontal kick to the monster to get it to back off. His kick was powerful enough to twist the entire monster's body so it's head was straight up in the air and his body was snaking around wildly. From the force of his kick, Bard swung out wide and hit the side of his ship, catching the edge before he drifted back.

"That thing has hard bones!" Bard commented, rubbing his bruised shin. "I don't think I can hit it any harder than that for now!"

"Fair enough" Rez said, sheathing his smaller gun again. "Leave this to..." he paused so he could draw out his broadsword-cannon from behind to emphasize its effectiveness, "...ME!" and he pulled! Nothing happened, so he pulled again! His sword was stuck between the ropes of the harness, and a terrifying ultimatum gripped his mind. In order to fight the Sea King, he would have to cut his harness and eliminate his chances of becoming Captain again. Not only that, but Zan had vanished after leaping out of his own harness, so Bard would win by default.

"Okay" Rez started. "New plan! Bard, use your fists on it instead of your legs!"

"I thought you were helping!" Bard shouted with an angry face.

* * *

"This isn't real" Araly prayed in her helpless cradle. "This can't be happening for real..." She peeked through a tiny opening in her fingers, seeing the woodwork start to bulge up. With her hand removed, she saw the whole process that was Zan fusing up from under the deck. When he was completely above deck, he raised up a large crossbow loaded with a whaling harpoon and aimed carefully.

"Quit moving" he quietly ordered. The monster was thrashing about, biting and nipping at the two still dangling below.

"Ahhh-TA!" Bard roared, delivering a flying uppercut to the monster's apparent, mouth-covered chin. Zan's aim was lost again, as the creature was reeled and leaning backwards. While in it's daze, the creature silently contemplated collapsing and feigning death until this ship had passed, but the inner animal clicked in and it decided to take on these tiny snacks with its full force instead! With a last desperate attempt to knock the ship over, the creature whipped its head around and knocked the ship part-way out of the water. It slammed back down heavily, rocking all the pirates down to their asses.

"What's going on!?" a pirate shouted in dismay.

"Is it a Sea King attack!?" another pirate shouted. Finally, they heard the roar. "KILL MARCO!" a riotous cry rang out.

"That directionally challenged bastard" someone started "lost his way right into the Calm Belt!!"

"AH-TOH!" Bard shouted again, punching in the slender gut with his other hand. The bony ribs that ran throughout the creature's entire body were dense enough to rattle the ship without damaging the creature itself, so it was no wonder that Bard was having trouble keeping his bones from snapping. "Okay, that punch burnt!"

"Worth it!" Rez shouted, sticking his gunblade into the hull and positioning himself to draw out his bigger gun. "Alright, the 'Hell Tiger' is back!" Rez pointed easily up at the dazed monster's face. Its mouth was extremely wide open, giving him and Zan a perfect shot.

"Perfect shot!" Zan triumphantly exclaimed. He fired a harpoon that was aimed at the creature's uvula. Rez fired a cannon shot from his big sword that exploded, deterring the course of Zan's harpoon straight up. The monster was defeated and white-eyed, it's huge mouth wide open as it came falling forward unconsciously.

"Oh, hell" Zan cursed. He threw his weapon aside and made a grab for Araly and Max. Just before he could get to them both, the monster's mouth impacted with the boat. Its fangs sank in to the dense wood deck, some of them breaking off from its jaw. Just before the crew gave out their grieving sighs, the harpoon came spiraling down and sliced its way through the monster's skull. Any cries of pity turned to shouts of terror.

"ZAAAN!" "Ms. ARALY!!" "CAPTAIN MAX!!" Every pirate was in huge distress, which Zan heard as he dropped to the bedroom floor below, heavily winded. He dropped Araly in her hammock and Max hard on the floor.

"Damn" he said "that was close. Are you alright?" He turned to address Araly, who was out cold and foaming at the mouth.

* * *

"What happened?" Bard asked, now floating in the water. "Are they alright?" Rez swam up to the creature's floating body and sheathed his sword venomously. He pouted heavily while Bard struggled to climb up the slippery skin. "Hey, buddy? Help please?"

"GO SCREW YOURSELF!!" Rez roared. Bard sank himself back down into the water, disappointed and sad. His rope had caught on the tiny splinter of out-cropped wooden shrapnel that Rez accidentally carved out when using his blade as a hold. Bard won, much to Rez's total dismay.

"I bet this thing must taste amazing..." Bard assumed, trying to make conversation with his shaken and angry comrade. It didn't quite break the ice, as Rez sat scowling at the silver moon on the horizon...


	40. What do Pirates do when they're Bored?

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The days had passed since the Captain challenge was won by Bard by default due to Rez's fault harness, a point he still contested and hated Araly for. Bard took his rightful place as the proper captain of the Imperial Dragon, flagship for the Buster Pirates. With his new position, fame and renown were sure to follow as soon as word got out that he and his first mate killed a Sea King or until the pirates came across someone to fight in the meantime. Until then, however, his job hadn't changed at all. Still the jack-of-all-Trades strength wise, Bard commanded the sails of his ship in time with the ever changing winds as the crew made its final stretch towards the island just over the edge of the horizon.

"What's our heading?" Bard asked Rez at the wheel. Rez glanced at his log on his wrist and responded.

"We're straight. Shouldn't be long now." he noted. "By the way, DROP DEAD!" Rez went back to scowling ahead with his hands locked in position and Bard hopped off onto the deck.

"Man" Bard huffed to his confidante Zan, "being Captain isn't that great, is it?"

"Not here" Zan admitted, dragging from his cigarette, "and not now. You'll like it once we hit land."

"Really?" Bard asked. "How do you figure?"

"Not sure" Zan said. "Maybe you just need to get all this pent-up fighting out of your system or something." Then, to Zan's learned horror, Bard gasped loudly and deeply. A bright, almost blinding smile lit up his face, his eyes were wide with prospect and his arms were straddled out to his sides.

"That's it!" Bard shouted.

"No" Zan whispered in fear.

"I have an idea!" Bard continued, raising up his arm and pointing to the sky.

"No" Araly muttered from instinct.

"EVERYONE ON DECK!" Bard shouted throughout the ship. "We're having a martial-arts tournament!" There was a mixed feeling among all the pirates. The strong and agile ones roared happily, charging up the deck and pushing each other to work up a preemptive anger. The intellectual, experienced and above all older pirates who stuck to their literal guns groaned and obediently went up to the deck at their captain's order. Araly groaned loudly in her bedroom hammock and Rez just slumped his shoulder lower and deepened his scowl.

"Bard," Zan began to ask while he had the chance, "why?"

"Because!" Bard replied, hopping to the center of the ship's huge deck. "How else can we all stay sharp and strong if we don't practice occasionally?"

"That's a good point" Marco said as he came up the stairs. "Maybe we should invest in a weight-lifting set once we hit port."

"Yes!" Bard said, making a serious mental note. "But for now, we all need to stay sharp. Who knows what awesome fighting styles we may encounter upon this ocean? We must be strong and solid fighters for freedom and glory so the incredibly strong crews will flock to us!"

"Then what?" Zan asked. "We die?"

"No" Bard dismissed. "If we're really strong, we'll beat 'em all!"

"HELL YEAH!" Bard's loyalist muscle-headed crew cheered. Everyone else seemed dissatisfied but compliant with the idea. Rez, of course, ignored the fiasco and kept to steering. He tried hard to continue especially when Bard decided that his first-mate needed to participate in the tournament as well and physically tried to pry him away from the wheel.

"Let Max steer for a while" Bard insisted. "Come on, fight us!" Bard's tone was eerily happy for what he was discussing. Rez refused to budge but Bard was literally lifting him over his shoulder at this point.

"I'm not fighting!" Rez declared.

"Of course you are!" Bard laughed. "Your Captain COMMANDS YOU!" And so, Rez's grip lost out to Bard's insane strength as he heaved him over his shoulder and onto the deck. As the ship slowly and slightly started to lean in another direction, Bard rushed over and threw Max and his chair over to the wheel. Max's leaned his feet against the wheel and kept the ship straight while the rest of the crew gathered around.

* * *

And so, Bard finished knotting down Araly's intricate hammock/throne just in front of the aft deck so she could watch the crew beat themselves silly. The idea sounded interesting, but the method left her a lot to potentially grieve about. While the Captain worked with his cabin-mate, the pirates all decided on a proper pecking order for the actual bracket. Zan had offered an interesting position for whatever prospective yellow-bellies to grab while they could.

"Whoever has the best organizational abilities" the assassin began to explain, "should sit out and plan the bracket themselves. During the matches, that person can be the referee and judge, assuming we aren't just going until we pass out or get thrown overboard."

"What's wrong with that plan?" Bard asked seriously, just now blinking into the area.

"Well," Marco started, "not all of us can swim like you, Cap'n."

"And some of us can't swim at all" Zan added, referring intentionally to himself alone.

"And some of us think this is stupid!" Rez said discontentedly.

"We all kinda do" Marco said to him. "Just roll with it." Rez rolled his eyes and focused on the floor while Bard paced about thoughtfully.

"How can we do this?" Bard said aloud. "We should have more than one referee and just have duels on time limits. Whoever fights the best and takes the least damage will advance."

"That's reasonable" Zan said. "Does anyone have a watch?" His question was answered with silence.

"There's a clock down in the dining hall" someone pointed out.

"Great!" Bard declared. "We'll move the table and fight downstairs for a while!"

"What about me?" Araly shouted, wanting to stop the madness before it could start.

"Oh, yeah" Bard said. "Never mind! First one to bring the clock up here gets to fight me!" So no one moved. The prospect of fighting their invincible, stupendously powerful Captain was to intimidating for even Bard's most loyal pirates.

"Fair enough" Rez said. "Anything to get to wail on you again!" Rez departed with the crew looking after him sadly, then soon returned with the clock on his back. The large, classical grandfather-style clock was planted next to one of the Grand masts and held in place by the not-fighting pirates.

* * *

"One minute" Bard declared, tossing his coat off to the cheering sidelines. "No giving up or tapping out."

"That's fine" Rez said, tossing away his own shirt in a pile with his weapons. The pirates formed a radius around the fighters as an excited crowd. "What about the arena?" Rez asked. Bard perked up and looked around at the constricted ring his crew had formed.

"Oh yeah" Bard suddenly realized. "We can use the whole ship, just stay on the main deck." The pirates dispersed except for the ones who had to stay there and observe the fight for foul play and whatnot. "After one minute, we'll stop and the ref's will decide a winner. And they can't decide Rez won just because they're friends!" he said in their direction.

"And you can't choose Bard" Rez added "just because he's Captain!"

"Well, naturally" Bard agreed. The clock continued to tick with the diligent refs watching it. As soon as the minute hand changed its place, they would initiate the match and watch the spectacle unfold. The ticking of the clock continued as the minuted hand carefully started to twitch itself out of place. Bard prepared himself with his own pose. Legs spread out with his right in front, his left arm curled beside him and his right arm out in front with a semi-clenched fist. Rez took up both of his fists to collar-bone level and set them outward with his feet shoulder width apart. The pirates continued to eye the clock down until at last, the time changed.

"GO!" Marco shouted. Before his hand went down to signal them, Bard was already at Rez's face and sweeping with his fist aimed at his face. With a thunderous impact, Bard sent Rez flying and twirling through the air and off the ship. The crew looked with terror as Bard disappeared yet again and hit the water below. Without sinking, Bard jumped up from the waves and kicked Rez back towards the ship. Unfortunately, Rez was instead sent flying over the ship's deck, just barely missing it. He was able to regain consciousness just before plummeting again and grabbed onto the side of the deck. Bard jumped back up onto deck and ran across it to meet Rez again.

_This won't work_ Rez said, anticipating another fierce blow from Bard. He rolled and dodged, sending Bard careening off the ship again with his leg extended out. _I can't fight him barehanded! This guy K.O.'d a Sea King! I need to outsmart him, make him hurt himself. _Bard flipped back up on deck in front of Rez, who resumed his pose. Bard was quick, but the eyes of Rez the Duelist were quicker, and he dodged another firm blow to the jaw. As Bard's undefended torso sailed closer to Rez, he took the opportunity and delivered a solid punch to Bard's gut. His abs were completely flexed out, acting like steel and forcing Rez to recoil in pain.

"CRAP DAMMIT!" Rez shouted, holding his most likely shattered hand. Bard didn't let up at all, bashing Rez across the deck with the back of his arm. Rez rolled along, stopping himself with his knees and crawling slowly up in time to see Bard prepare to punt him far away. Rez ignored the pain, clenched his teeth and used both his hands to push his whole body up and away just in time for the wind from Bard's kick to knock him over on his back. While lying on the deck, Rez saw Bard's leg go straight up. Bard's back was bent to keep his leg perfectly perpendicular to the floor on which he stood, letting his foot loom over Rez like a deadly ax of an executioner.

"And..." Bard started, preparing to shoot his leg down and split open his first-mate's skull, "STOMP!" The foot bashed into the solid deck. Rez managed to spin away on his side and get back up while Bard recovered from the shaking vibration that came from knocking into the insanely dense wooden deck of the ship. As Bard stood paralyzed, he knew Rez would take the chance and beat him up, so he prepared his mind. _Focus on the pain_ Bard told himself, tensing up every muscle in his body. _Focus on making it go away..._

"HAAAAA!!" Rez's battle roar echoed out as he punched and kicked with karate accuracy. Kicks to the face, the shoulders, the neck and the legs. Punches across his face and drilled into his torso. The beat-down seemed to be worse than the one that Bard had delivered previously, but as the referees watched they noticed something strange. Despite the damage, even the kicks to his eyes, Bard didn't react. He didn't even blink.

_I don't feel anything!_ Bard cheered internally.

"It's like punching iron!" Rez noted, continuing his onslaught. The refs didn't notice that the time limit had passed until they took a double take and had to stumble with their reaction.

"TIME!" Marco shouted. Rez connected one last punch, then fell over and bit his lip to prevent the cries of unbelievable pain from leaking out. Bard broke his statue stance and stumbled a little to regain his posture after being a statue for so long. Bard put his fists to his waist triumphantly and smiled seriously.

"Tekkai!" he announced to Rez who was curled over in pain.

"Okay!" Marco announced to the crowd. "The voting spread is a little iffy, but we think Rez won out in pure force." Bard's face darkened with disappointment and his jaw dropped low. Rex raised his hand up in victory shakily, not wanting everyone else to see his tear-and-snot soaked face of twisted pain. The pirates all cheered except for Zan, whose surprised mouth let his cigarette drop out onto the floor.

"Tek...kai?" Zan muttered. Bard sulked away and retrieved his coat while the other pirates gathered and doubled up to fight the rest of their tournament.

"Bard?" Araly asked, watching the sullen boy walking back into the bedroom. "Are you alright?"

"Sure" Bard said. "I'll just read for a bit."

"Read what?" Araly asked. "You never really read before."

"I have a book now" Bard said. "Don't worry about it, I'm fine!" His smile reassured her, so she leaned back again in her super-hammock and watched as the pirates made fools of themselves all day long with their fights.


	41. It's how you Use it, not how it Works

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The tournament aboard the Buster Pirate's Imperial Dragon went on smoothly, with Zan coming out on top after Rez was beaten in the second round. His abilities made it hard for anyone to judge how a hit should be counted on him, so he ended up getting hit the least of anyone by default. Afterwards, the crew went about their normal business of navigating the dangerous sea, avoiding any potential Sea King nest they could. While it all happened, Bard stayed in his cabin and read...

* * *

_The Offensive Arts: Rankyaku (Storm Leg)_

_Using the motion and speed generated by a successful Soru leg vibration, one can use it to kick the wind as a traveling blade. Rankyaku kicks have enough force to cut apart wood and even skin and can travel a great distance. Rankyaku kicks can and will dissipate under certain conditions. There are two main varieties of kicking, the 'sweep' and the 'jab'. 'Sweep' kicks are created when the leg is swung around in a horizontal arc. 'Jabs' act as pinpoint spears that travel much faster through the air made by kicking straight ahead without any arc motion. Combining both types of Rankyaku is difficult to accomplish, but the true master can accomplish it._

* * *

"Cool" Bard noted, reading huddled over himself on his bed. "I can probably do that."

"I knew it!" an astonished voice said form above. Bard looked up and his eyes bulged out at the phantasmal figure of Zan in his ceiling. Bard quickly shut the book and fell off the bed in a fearful panic. "It _was_ Tekkai that you used. That was Rokushiki!"

"Yeah!" Bard exclaimed, pointing, "that's what it's called! Hey, did Rez win?"

Zan cocked his head and looked at him oddly. "Win what?"

"The tourney!" Bard said, jumping up.

"Ah, yeah" Zan remembered. "No, I did."

"Cool" Bard noted. "Say, how do you know about this Rokushiki?"

"Because" Zan began "I'm an assassin. Moreover, I'm a Revolutionary assassin. I've come across others who can use those techniques as well. It's not pretty what they do with them, either." Bard kept his smile, so Zan assumed that the message he wanted to convey to him didn't get across. "Bard, Rokushiki is a martial art of assassination. It's primary use is to kill people." Bard's eyes went black with disbelief and his jaw lowered. A heavy air of depression swept over him.

"Assassination!?" Bard squealed. "You mean I've been slowly learning how to kill people!?" Bard began to slowly and quietly panic over this revelation. He wasn't a killer, but only a fighter. He lived to make sure everyone he fought could eventually fight him again.

"It's not all that abd" Zan noted, sitting on the bed and smoking. "This is rumored to be one of the most powerful martial arts in the history of the world. No one can trace its development or its perfected uses, that's how dangerous it is." Zan blew out a stream of smoke, as if it represented his own killer intentions, and finished his point to Bard. "You want to fight the most powerful people you can, right?" Bard nodded. "If you're seen using this art, then only the most powerful people will come to stop you. You can use it to achieve your goal on the ocean." To such an effect, Bard once again became happy.

"Really?" he asked. Zan nodded.

"It's not the fight" Zan noted poetically "which kills, but the killer. One can't blame a gun for killing a man because that's what it is meant to do. On the other hand, a gun can save a man's life without harming him. It's all in how you use it, Bard."

"YEAH!" Bard shouted, his confidence and reason returning. "You're right! I forgot about that!"

"You mean" Zan said in angry disbelief "you knew all that already?"

"Yeah" Bard bashfully admitted. "Sometimes I forget things like that. One time I forgot where I lived and had to sleep in the woods for three days. Hahaha! But, we all forget things, don't we? Huh? Zan? You okay?" Zan had in fact fell to the floor and half-melded himself within the boards out of the shock of Bard's stupidity.

_This guy's my Captain!? _Zan shouted internally. _What have I done? I should have just cheated to win like I wanted to!!!_

* * *

"Pain" Rez said droningly. Everyone moved about the ship, helping Max down into the proper crew quarters for the coming storm, making sure the log was pointing straight and adjusting the sails, while Rez sat as a crumpled heap under Araly's huge hammock.

"Doesn't this crew have a doctor?" Araly asked.

"Pain" Rez answered.

"You guys should really get one" she nagged. "It's dangerous enough that you pick regular fights with a guy who beat a sea kind to death with his own two hands and feet, but there are diseases on this ocean! Horrible little bugs and poisonous fish that can just barely nick you and then you're sick! And after a while from being sick you're dead! Doesn't that make you paranoid?"

"Pain" Rez continued.

"You just don't have any smarts" Araly pointed out, leaning back and enjoying her book.

"Pain" Rez grunted. His wounds and bruises were neatly pulsing all around him. His face was hideously bloated on one side, his arm was in a sling, his leg was in a split: he got messed up.

"we do have doctors" Marco noted as he passed. "Most of us have some kind of medical training."

"Yeah!" a larger, rounder pirate with a gruff voice called out. "I was a certified doctor before I decided to go out to sea!"

"Then why become pirates?" Araly asked. "Seriously, why did any of you become pirates?"

"To be honest" Marco said, "we were suckered." Araly glared curiously, wanting him to continue. "Our history is pretty brief, actually. When Maxwell was still our captain, he said his old crew had become to bloodthirsty and bothersome, so he marooned them on an island on the Calm Belt." Araly was about to say something, but he cut her off with a hand. "We don't know how he got there either...Anyway, when he came out of the Calm Belt, he stopped by a bunch of random islands and picked up anyone willing to side with him. When we got this crew together, he got bit by a Salsa snake. Then, of course, his first mate took charge and we decided to retreat to the closer islands of the Grand Line and pick off the weaker pirates whenever we could..."

"That was the jackass" Rez began, sudden;y well enough to talk "that Bard got jailed back when we met. It's been barely a year since I joined up with Max and started taking orders from that kiniving son of a bitch. To be honest, I'm glad he's gone."

"Hell yes!" the pirates agreed.

"He would've dodged past Paradiso like it was on fire" another pirate pointed out.

"That's a nice story" Araly said "but how does it imply that you got 'suckered'?"

"Because" Marco started "none of us knew who Maxwell was. That's how we were suckered. Before you know it, all of us are on the Marine's Most Wanted Crew list for being under the former-Pirate Emperor 'Chromatic' Maxwell." Araly became speechless.

"They declared him former" Rez explained "when he gave up his crew and left the new world. Although, it's not like he wouldn't go back if he could."

"We've just been set back so much" Marco added. "I'm sure we'll get there again, if not just for Max's sake."

"Besides, we love being pirates!" someone yelled. The chorus joined in cheer to his declaration. Everyone loved being a pirate on this ship. Araly even found it interesting and exciting at times, but otherwise dangerous. Then, her thoughts became still when she felt a warm drop of rain.

* * *

"Storm!" the navigator shouted. Out of the cabin came Bard, darting about and doing all the jobs as quick as he could, followed quickly after by Zan, who stole away Araly and her hammock and threw it up onto the walls in the bedroom.

"Ah! Help! ASSASSIN!!!" Araly shouted.

"Yeah, I'm an assassin" Zan said, securing her down. "Have you ever tried to absolve your sea-sickness through meditation?"

"...Uhh" Araly grunted in puzzlement.

"It worked for me" Zan admitted. "I used to be just as bad as you."

"Well that;s no fair" she said. "you can attach yourself to the ship if it rocks!"

"Yeah, that makes it worse!" Zan said. Araly gave him a stern, suspicious glare as he worked for her.

"You came in to talk with Bard,didn't you?" she said, nearly growling at him.

"Yeah" Zan said, securing the last knot. "you're right, he's pretty nice. But I don't think I can influence him to kill."

"Really?" Araly said, trying to be as probing as possible.

"He's far too stupid" Zan explained briefly "to kill anyone." With his piece said and Araly in a building rage, he left and descended into the lower deck to operate the Dampening sails with the others. As the warm, almost hot rain started to pick up, Rez took the wheel and Bard continued to rush about on deck with blurred speed.

"Hey, Bard!" Rez shouted. "Where'd you learn that weird 'Tekkai' junk?"

"That!?" Bard shouted back. "It's a part of my own fighting style!" Rez glanced back at his furrowed-brow smile, his eager determined ready-to-fight smile, and focused ahead again.

"Well, how good is it?" Rez yelled, somewhat to himself. "You'll have to make sure it's perfect if we're gonna cross the Red Line again to get to the New World!" Bard listened, holding down one of the larger ropes for the Grand Sail, and smiled happily. Then, of course, the mystery of the Grand Line picked up and the rain became boiling hot.

"AGH!" Bard shouted. "RETREAT!" Rez followed his command and appeared with his Captain below deck, both of them panting synchronously with their skin beaten red.

"Quick!" Marco shouted to Rez. "Take the under-wheel!" Rez hurried into a small room directly under the bow and took another wheel that was connected to the one above with chains. There was already a steady drip along the sides of steaming hot water. The sky was bright orange and the ocean heaved the giant ship about in the windy tempest as they all sailed on, down the powerful Grand Line.


	42. The Magical Fruit that found the Crew

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

It was a misty, plain morning on the Grand Line. The fish were jumping, the sharks were jumping after them, and thee occasionally Sea King jumped after the shark. The bounty of the sea was plentiful for the crew, but not quite enough for the captain. From the lower reaches of the deck, Bard stumbled out onto the main deck with a harpoon in hand.

"Fine!" he shouted. "But I'm not sharing it with you!" IN a huff, he tromped over to the side of the ship and glared down to the water. The waves were normal, with no life stirring in them, which was bad for the hungry captain. "Come on, fish! I'm still hungry!" Suddenly, the water broke with rippling bubbles. Bard threw the harpoon, grabbed the rope tied to it and hauled his catch up. He smiled as he pulled the rope, and Zan came up behind him to see the fruits of his labor.

"How goes it?" Zan asked. Bard hauled up a large, wooden crate with the word 'CURSED' scrawled on its side.

"Not well" Bard said, looking at the box. Zan investigated it while Bard fished and when he finished he joined in with Zan. "What is it?"

"It's a box" Zan explained.

"Ah" Bard grunted, taking a bite of fish to his side. "What's in it?"

"Well, I'm not going to open it if it says 'cursed'" Zan pointed out. "You do it."

"What!?" Bard demanded. "Why me?"

"Because you're the captain" Zan said. "You have to take your crew before yourself." Bard stared blankly at him for a bit.

"Oh, yeah. That's right." Bard agreed. He bent down with his knees and searched for an opening on the bottom, then along the sides, then gave up when he saw how shoddily nailed the crate was on all sides. "Why would they make a box with no opening?"

"It's a mystery" Zan said, blowing smoke at the word on the side.

"Ah, screw it" Bard said, punching a hole in the side of the box. "I'll just tear it open."

"Yeah that's a good idea" Zan said, backing off and preparing to meld down to the lower deck. "Rip open the cursed crate..." Bard, not sensing the dread and sarcasm, ripped apart the crate in one grand motion, throwing his arms out and extending them fully like wings. Inside was dust, dark and thick that sank down to the floor and swept quickly off the boat into the misty morning sea. And the mist left its own remnant, for within the box and under the covered dust was another, smaller box.

"Hey!" Bard exclaimed, bending down and retrieving the smaller box. "It's a box!"

"Amazing" Zan said unamused. He was only waist up on the upper deck, the jolt of the black dust acting as some kind of ghostly force scared him enough to issue a partial retreat. "What's in that one?" Bard used his unnatural strength and ripped the box open, breaking off the tiny lock that was on it. Inside this box was an odly shaped thing.

"It's..." Bard said, drawing it out and holding the treasure up "...a fruit?" A triangular-shaped fruit with many sharp-angled marks on it and a crown of leaves on the shorter end was the reward. Zan cocked his eyebrow and dragged from his cigarette.

"We should call the crew" Zan said "and decide what to do with-Bard, no! STOP!" Zan shouted just soon enough, as Bard was ready to consume the fruit whole with his mouth gaping open. "That's a Devil Fruit!" Bard looked over at him, then down his nose at the fruit, then slowly and carefully drew it back out of his mouth.

"...oh..." Bard said.

* * *

Moments later, the crew was assembled at the helm. It was decided that everyone would have a say as to what they would do with the fruit now that they had one. Araly was asked to search through one of the ship's books, a Devil Fruit 'Encyclopedia', to find out which fruit they had in their possession. The morning fog was clearing at last.

"Here it is" Araly announced. "It's called the 'Mask Mask Fruit'...wonder why."

"Let's eat it and find out!" Bard said enthusiastically. Rez drew up his huge gunblade in front of him to prevent him from pouncing out like an animal and devouring the fruit without fore-thought.

"If you eat that" Rez said "then you can't swim."

"Oh" Bard said in disgust. "Who would _want_ to eat it?...present company excluded, Zan"

"No worries" Zan said.

"Hey! I know!" Bard remarked with a stroke of genius. "Zan, you should eat it! Then you'll have **TWO** powers!"

"You idiot" Zan dejected, leaving Bard to weep. "If someone who ate a Devil Fruit eats another one, their body explodes. A human body can only handle one of these things at a time." Bard looked down at the floor, then picked the fruit up and wordlessly offered it to Rez.

"Hell no!" Rez shouted.

"Why not!?" one of the pirates shouted back. "This thing could be some sort of immortality fruit!"

"Then it's the last thing I want!" Rez shouted back. "No Devil Fruits for me! I don't want an unnecessary power that I won't use..." Bard put a hand to his chin and thought for a second, then offered it to Araly. She just hit him with the book.

"Oh, here's the description" Bard said, the book draped over his face. He took it in one hand and the fruit in the other. "It says that the fruit enables its user to generate masks that can manipulate mood and add miscellaneous powers based on the mask used, including levitation, fire-breathing, ice-breathing and general face protection. The masks can stimulate emotions in anyone who looks at them and are triggered by whoever wears them..." Bard cocked his head to the side.

"That's interesting" Zan said. He stole the fruit and held it with the tips of his fingers. "You know, I'm sure there are other people in the world who would want power like this..."

"Yes!" Bard said. "We'll send it as a present to some less fortunate pirates!"

"WRONG!" Rez roared, slamming him with the blunt end of his cannon-sword. The two boys scuffled while the other pirates decided amongst themselves.

"It could fetch a hefty price" Marco said. "I heard if you can sell a powerful enough fruit you never have to worry about money again."

"They say if you can find 'Black-Kunckled Bart's ' treasure you don't have to worry about money again" another pirate added.

"It could be dangerous" Zan noted. "The Black Market that takes these things is full of scammers and thugs. We could easily get killed if someone found out we were holding a Devil Fruit. We'd have to sell it at the first opportunity."

"So we could get a bum deal" Marc analyzed "or we could wait and possibly get killed."

"The market is a scary thing" Zan said.

"BORING!" Bard shouted, kicking Rez out of scene as he jumped back in. He swiped the fruit and held it up high, since only a few pirates on his crew could reach up and grab it now. "We'll have a martial-arts tournament."

"NO!" Everyone shouted.

"Seriously" Zan said, grabbing the fruit again "what is it with you and tournaments?"

"They're fun!" Bard exclaimed.

"Fun doesn't win wars or money" Zan chided.

"Let's just get rid of it!" Rez suggested. "If it came in a 'cursed' box, it obviously won't be worth the trouble..." The pirates seriously considered his proposal, since it made the most sense.

"Oh, come on!" Araly huffed. "You guys don't really believe in a silly curse, just because it was on a box!?" The pirates avoided looking at her, with no way of justifying themselves to her. "Oh, COME ON! You guys are supposed to be hardcore, maniac blood-spilling pirates! How can you be afraid of an unproven, un-biased curse!?"

"This is the Grand Line, missy" Marco said. "We were just recently attacked by a monster that could have swallowed our whole giant ship's hull in a few gulps! Curses aren't as far-fetched as you think around here..."

"Indeed" Zan affirmed, nodding his head. Bard plucked the fruit once more.

"Alright, final decision!" Bar announced. "Who wants to eat it!?" No one raised their hands, seeing as no one wanted the burden of responsibility that came with having so much power in a war against everybody they met. "Okay, who wants to sell it?" Only a few pirates raised their hands, a staggering minority. Araly raised her hand, of course.

"Okay then..." Bard said. He paced over to the edge of the deck, pulled up a cannon and stuffed the fruit inside. Everyone froze with horrified looks. "Bye bye, Mask Fruit. I hope you find a better owner across the sea..." and then he lit it. By the time everyone rushed over to stop him, it was to late. The fruit sailed through the air, a trail of smoke, and then it hit the water. Everyone looked with terrible expressions while Bard waved, smiling, as if seeing off an old friend.

* * *

"You guys are jack-asses!" Bard grumbled loudly. While his crew worked about on the ship, Bard was forced to fish for the duration of their trek to the next island as punishment for his brash and stupid ejection of the Devil Fruit. They all hoped that they could, by chance, recover the fruit as he fished, but it didn't seem that the pile of fish he had already accumulated was going to produce fruit anytime soon. "I'm the captain here, and we did it fair! You all decided to-"

"Not out of a cannon!" Marco shouted.

"It may not even exist anymore" another pirate lamented. The immediate regret of not holding it to sell gripped everyone tightly, except Bard, who wanted to see how it would work.

"Stupid ocean" he said, looking down. A school of fish in the water kept bobbing up and down around Bard's line, desperately trying to hook the discarded Devil Fruit on Bard's hook so they wouldn't have to suffer any potential curse. "I told you, I don't want it!" he harshly whispered.


	43. The Legs that kick up a Storm!

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Bard was lazily laying on the bowsprit of the ship, snoring and drooling instead of doing his job.

"Bard!" Rez shouted. He threw something and knocked Bard's face into the wood.

"What!?" Bard roared back.

"You're supposed to keep watch for the island!" Rez yelled. "Max can't do everything!" Although, he was steering in a way.

"Meh, there's nothing out there" Bard nearly whined. "It's a waste of energy to keep watching all this nothing, it makes me sleepy..."

"You're a moron" Rez insulted.

"What!?" Bard said, gritting his teeth in Rez's face. "Well then, you're a monkey!"

"I'd rather be a monkey!" Rez shot back. "At least then the ladies will like me!"

"WHAT'S THAT MEAN!?" Bard shouted. Rez broke his crazy-angry stare down and looked past Bard, who noticed and tried to re-engage him. "Now what, ass-hat!?" Rez took his face and pushed him away. He stomped over to the end of the deck and took out a telescope. In the distance, closing in from the horizon, was a ship.

"Crap" Rez lowed.

"Carp?" Bard repeated, mishearing Rez. "You saw a carp!?"

"There's a ship incoming!" Rez alerted. He ran down to the deck and headed for the stairs. "Everyone! Battle stations!" he shouted. All the pirates looked up from their card games and their rum, and said nothing. They just gazed at him like partially startled animals.

"Dude" Zan said, melding out from the wall behind, "calm down. We're _in_ our battle stations." Rez gave him a stupid look, and Zan eventually gave in to it. "Well...I am anyway" he joked.

"Wha-but..." Rez stuttered, shaking off his shock. "You're all just sitting on you fat, useless asses! How is this battle ready!?"

"HEY GUYS!" Bard shouted, charging downstairs and straight into Rez. "There's a ship coming! What should we do?" Now the pirates were paying attention.

"That depends" Marco said, walking over. "Was it a Marine ship?" Bard shrugged.

"Not...likely" Rez muttered from under Bard's boot. Bard lifted up his fot and stepped off his comrade as he began to talk again.

"The sails weren't standard Marine issue" Res said. "They were triangular."

"Isosceles or Right triangle?" Bard asked.

"It was right" Rez answered, then snapped. "Wait, WHAT KIND OF SHIP HAS AN ISOSCELESE SAIL!?"

"I was just making sure..." Bard said. Zan took a drag from his cigarette and set foot on the floor once more.

"Could be pirates" he said. "Could also be merchants. Either way, we should lull them into a trap. Everyone hide!" Zan's order sent them all running about. The crew ducked themselves into crates and barrels, closets and nooks, every space where any given man could fit without being obvious.

"Won't we be exposing ourselves?" Rez asked, getting up.

"If they're pirates" Zan said, "they'll want to loot the ship before they blow it up. They'll come over if they really want to, and then they'll get it."

"Get what?" Bard asked. Zan lit a new cigarette so the shadow of the flame would make his face even more terribly dramatic.

"Death..." he growled.

* * *

"Oh!" a gruff man shouted, looking through a rusty, broken spy glass. "Captain, there's a ship sailing with no sailors!"

"Easy pickings!" the apparent captain, ugly and scarred from years of fighting exclaimed. "Let's get ready to board and haul that ship away! Lord knows we can fetch a fine price for it on the market!"

"Aye aye, sir!" his crew saluted. The ship they sailed on, much smaller than the one they aimed to capture, was in terrible shape. The fact they didn't have immediate plans to just take the Imperial Dragon for themselves was astonishing. Whether it was a devotion to their tattered ship that had sailed with them for so long or a mind for money, they all charged up the ship with rope and bridges to loot and plunder. However, the deck was completely barren. The pirates looked around, the blood lust fading from their faces quickly, and started walking in a daze. Down below, the crew steered the ship in their designated heading.

"We should raise the sails" Marco noted "on the starboard side. That ship is weighing us down a bit."

"The sails are up" one of his fellow crewmen noted. "All of them are."

"Ah, then we have a problem" Marco said.

"No we don't" Bard said, leaning against the wall and smiling. "Just let me up there and there won't be a problem anymore. Shishishi!"

"That's a frightening confidence" Marco noted, smiling back at Bard unconsciously.

"Don't try it, Bard" Rez growled. "You may be strong and inhumanly tough but they could still outnumber you."

"Yeah" Bard said thoughtfully, "but numbers only count for so much."

"And in war, they count" Zan added, melding back into the room again.

"How's it look?" Marco asked, cranking a lever as quietly as possible.

"Their ship is nearly deserted" Zan reported. "And above that, it's in pretty crappy condition. We could sink it with one cannon."

"Maybe" Bard added. "Or, one kick!" Everyone looked at him oddly, except Zan who glared at him not to get any ideas.

"What?" Rez unbelievingly. The thugs up top dismissed whatever they had heard, convincing themselves that they heard nothing.

"Give me a shot" Bard offered. "Besides, what can their captain do against me? I have combat training!"

"Living in the wilderness isn't exactly training..." Rez said. Bard snarled at him as they heard the stomping just overhead. Bard put a finger to his mouth and darted off to the cannon deck. Rez wanted to shout him out of the idea, but decided it wouldn't work.

"You know" Zan whispered to Rez, "You and me can definitely take them on alone..." Rez pursed his lips and thought about it for a second. Meanwhile, in the port cannon deck, Bard was moving a cannon out of the way so he could jump out and crash onto the ship below.

"Okay" Bard began, cracking his knuckles. "The weak point of the ship should be at it's center. That's how it works in martial arts...right? Well, I'll figure it out." He extended his leg and crouched into the hole. No one was on the deck that he could see, but the captain was still there somewhere. Bard kept his one leg out, flipped down, and kicked off the side of his ship.

"Okay!" Bard shouted, repositioning in mid air. He rolled to face the ship and cocked his legs in. He crunched his whole body inward, like a ball, and let himself fly to the last second. At once, he extended his body and activated his Soru kicking speed. The combined force of his whip-motion strength and the rapid, light-speed kicking resulted in a force that literally ripped the ship's deck apart.

"**RANKYAKU!!!**" Bard shouted, and although it wasn't exact, the ship exploded with a blue light of the stormy power from Bard's legs.

* * *

"What the hell was that!?" one of the looting pirates asked. Then, he grunted painfully and fell to the floor. The pirates turned to him, then armed themselves and took a step back. From out of nowhere, a man wearing dagger-tipped shoes appeared, his leg extended with blood dripping from his blade.

"Man" he mocked, "you guys aren't good pirate's, are ya?"

"They aren't man" Rez called from the deck door. Half the pirates faced him while half concentrated on Zan. "They don't even know a trap when they see one!"

"Arr" they all growled. Rez drew out his gunblades, holding them close to his head, and walked forward. Zan sheathed his footblade and took out his handblades, marching forward. The offending pirates circled themselves defensively, forming a tight, fearful guard, as both men came down upon them.

"Boom" both Rez and Zan lowed...

Down in the water, Bard floated on a piece of driftwood that had once been an aged pirate ship. Debris of all kinds floated around, including fragmented wood and furniture. Barrels leaked their contents and already rotten food crumbled in the ocean.

"Huh" Bard huffed. "That was cool." He stood triumphantly on some of the more sturdy debris, floating in the gentle waves away from his ship.

"Puagh!" gasped a voice. Bard looked over and saw the captain of the ship he just leveled with one kick breaking the water again. "What happened?" he asked. "Am I dead?"

"Hehehe!" Bard chuckled. "You're not dead! Your ship is, though!" The weary captain looked around at the scrap floating about and fainted into the water. Bard looked at him for a while before realizing that he was in need of help. Up on deck, the invading pirates were getting quickly trashed.

"The art of Dueling" Rez lectured, twirling his gunblades "is a serious matter." Five pirates, not caring what he had to say, charged at him. Rez took one of his arms, twirled the gunblade horizontally instead of vertically, and fired five shots at once. Each bullet went through a different pirate's body and stopped within another far behind them. "For example, never interrupt a duelist when he needs to line up a shot, or he won't care where he hits you!" Across the deck, Zan was nearly finished with his dispatching.

"Come on now" he patronized. "You can do it!" The pirates he taunted snapped and charged him. He stepped on the face of the first one to reach him, the used it to jump up and kick tow heads down to the deck with one motion. Then, he bent his knees upon landing, and kicked two more pirates in the face from his crouched position. Still not done, he placed a hand on the deck for balance and drew out his footblades. Then he whirled around with his hands and cut down everyone. Feeling satisfied, Zan pushed down to jump up with his hands and landed closer to the middle where no bodies were gently on his feet. "You can all die. No one can stand up to me..."

"Nice fight" Rez complimented. What pirates had survived were feigning death to get them to go away and not try and kill them. "You get them all?"

"Most of them" Zan said. "Some of them are faking it, but I'll let it slide..." The ones who heard him became afraid and started to shake.

"Hey!" Bard's voice called. He jumped up over the side of the ship with a body over his shoulder. "I blew up the ship!"

"..." Rez gapped in astonishment. "Bullcrap!" he protested. He stomped over as Bard casually walked over to add the captain's body to the pile.

"You were right" Bard admitted to Zan. "These guys were pirates!"

"Yeah" Zan remarked, blowing smoke into the air. "And now they're not..."

* * *

Quite a while later, when all the pirates living and barely living were gathered up below, the crew decided immediately on a course of action.

"We'd say we're sorry but we aren't!" Marco taunted. The captain, with his freshly puffed-up mouth and eyelids, weeped pathetically at them.

"Good luck out there!" Bard said, their line. "Try not to attract a Sea King!" All the pirates that were crammed onto the tiny, scrap-wood dinghy moaned and whined in fear as they drifted off far behind the speeding Imperial Dragon.

"So long, numb-nuts!" one pirate yelled, starting up a cacophonous cheer of the others. "Don't ever mes with the Buster Pirates!!!" The defeated crew drifted out, holding back their tears of sadness and desperate fear as their tiny ship bobbed about in the waves left behind by the monster ship.

"Hey! Let's celebrate!" Bard said in his 'captain voice'. "Fire up some fish!"

"Okay" Marco replied with equal enthusiasm. "Go get some then!" The rest of the pirates went marching down to the lower deck, shouting their own praises and taunting their captain to get them fish.

"Ah..." Bard groaned. "You guys are jackasses!" Regardless, Bard removed his jacket, stowed it under a crate and dove into the water...again.


	44. An Island Found! Rush towards the Land!

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"LAND!" cried the lookout.

"How far?" shouted Rez.

"Still a kilometer or so" the lookout shouted. "We should stay outta sight until we can find a harbor somewhere to dock."

"Right" Rez shouted. "Someone inform the captain!" A crewman saluted and ran across the deck to the captains cabin, wherein Bard slept noisily on his bed.

"Captain!" the crewman shouted. Bard didn't move. "Captain!" he shouted again. He looked around and found a chair, which seemed to be dense enough to wake the captain up with. He took it up and slammed the chair on Bard's back. He still refused to budge. "Captain, wake up! We've found the next island!"

"REALLY!?" Bard shouted. He snapped instantly into a heroic position on his bed, hitting his head on the ceiling in the process. "Great news! Inform the crew!"

"We already know, sir" the crewman reported. "In fact, I believe you're the last to find out..."

"Oh" Bard said. "Ah well. Prepared to dock! OR...port. Whatever we do as Pirates!"

"We can't yet, sir."

"Why not!?" Bard vehemently asked.

"The island is flying a World Government flag" he reported. "If we run in guns blazing, the government could dispatch a fleet to take us out."

"Then we'll just take them out" Bard sternly reasoned.

_What kind of logic is that?_ The crewman asked himself. "We'll circle the island until we find a safe port to dock at. So far we haven't even seen a real dock for normal ships. Chances are good that it's a kind of fort for the Marines."

"Meh" Bard huffed. "I still say we should go ahead. If they really don't want us there they'll tell us."

"Yeah" the crewman said "with cannons. Our ship's to big to dodge whatever offensive they decide to launch, we'd get torn up!"

"Then send a party on a dinghy!" Bard ordered. "We have plenty of them, after all."

"Aye aye, sir!" the crewman saluted. He ran off with the order, leaving Bard without an answer to his suggestion.

"Well" Bard stubbornly said, "I guess I'll just have to go myself..." He walked out onto the deck with an attitude and started towards the Grand Mast. He started hiking vertically up to the crows nest that other, normal pirates had to take an automatic pulley system to get to. "Yo!" he greeted, hopping into the spacious nest with the lookout. "How goes it, Birdman?" The lookout, who was nicknamed Birdman for his uncanny ability to differentiate between solid land and odd illusionary formations on the Grand Line, snapped around startled.

"C-captain!" he stuttered. "It, it goes well, sir! We're in sight for the next island on our log."

"Great!" Bard exclaimed. "Where is it?"

"Right over there" he said, pointing to a blurry speck on the horizon. Bard peered through the salty sea air and finally saw it. It looked like a huge rock sticking out of the waves. "It's a ways off, and I can't see and visible port to dock at, so we're staying a safe distance away for now. The last thing we want is an unnecessary intrusion on government grou-" and Bard was gone. He had been gone for a while since Birdman started talking, and could be seen flying away from the ship and towards the island.

"Alright!" Bard shouted. "Let's test this baby out!" Just before Bard hit the water he kicked his legs down,. Suddenly, his legs were gone, vanished in a blur similar to the dark of his pants. The water exploded in a blazing trail that followed him as he ran over the water towards the island. "**SORU: WATER RUSH!**"

"First mate Rez!" a crewman shouted to the navigator. "The captain's gone overboard!"

"Well, he can swim..." Rez said, shrugging his care off.

"He's sprinting to the island!" the crewman reported with dread.

"What...!?" Rez growled.

* * *

"Ha!" Bard shouted ."This is easy! Now that I'm used to Soru, I can use it without getting exhausted. If I just keep practicing with this and Rankyaku, I'll have them mastered in no time at all!" As Bard grinned so pleased with himself he neglected to measure just how fast he was going and how long it would take for him to travel a kilometer. He wasn't in a position to slow down at all and land was barreling at him rapidly.

Bard tripped into the dirt and zoomed a distance past some dead-looking trees before hitting the ground and tumbled into a rocky wall. "Hoo!" he shouted, "I thought I'd never stop. That was spooky! More importantly, where am I now?" He looked around and saw a depressing landscape of half-dead trees and fallen leaves. A black forest where he was the liveliest thing present. Bard noticed a cave just adjacent to his impact sight in the rock wall and peered in. It was warm and damp, almost dripping from the roof, and empty. "Huh. Maybe this cave leads somewhere?" Bard summoned up his inner adventurer and walked in. His tall stature made his exploration short, as he hit his head only a few steps in.

"Ah!" he screamed. "Pain! Why is there pain! Damn, I should have used Tekkai then, I'm an idiot. Although, I can't move with Tekkai..." Then a warm, moist air hit his back. Bard turned around and saw behind him a bear. A giant bear that only the Grand Line could provide a proper home to. Bard's first reaction was "AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" The bear roared and chased after Bard on all fours while he sprinted through the woods, dodging trees and other hazardous pitfalls on the forest floor.

"Wait a minute. Why am I running? It's just a bear." So Bard stopped. He dug his feet into the soil and leaves and, just as the bear was ready to maul, he whipped out his iron muscles! The bear slammed headfirst into Bard's flexed arm, the strength of his Tekkai enforcing his great power. Then Bard drew back his arm, made a fist and punched the bear into a tree. Then that tree fell onto the bear and just short of Bard's feet. "YEAH! Take that, Bear! DON'T MESS WITH THE BUSTER PIRATES!!!" As Bard posed and growled in victory, a young girl quivered fearfully in the clearing behind him. During one of his more unorthodox, one-legged poses, he spotted her and a short silence fell. She was a little girl of at least ten, with a plain dress and a basket of fruit on her arm. "...hi" Bard greeted.

"EEEEEEE!" she screamed. "The demons hath returned! Take to the houses for shelter!!!"

"Demons!?" Bard repeated. "I thought it was a bear!"

"I must haste!" the girl shouted. She started to run away, but Bard was quicker and ran out in front of her. He snapped around and looked down at her, the shadows of the trees making his head seem like that of a fire-headed monster and his eyes shone through the dark with a resonating light of brilliant optimism and awesome. The girl became stiff with fear.

"Where do you live!?" Bard urgently asked. "I'll get you home before more of those demons showed up!" The little girl was confused, and looked at him so.

"I need not thy help!" she insisted. "Get you away, demon! I'll not be caught consorting with such a cretinous thing as ye!"

"'Ye?'" Bard repeated. The terminology was confusing to Bard, more so than being called a demon. "Hey, wait!"

"NO!" the girl screamed. She ran off once again through the orange forest away from Bard. Bard decided that, for whatever reason she had, he should follow to find someone to talk to about docking on the island. The forest seemed to run right up to the ocean in most places and there weren't any waves crashing along the beaches either. It was a truly strange island. The sky even looked gloomy from the forest.

"This is getting creepy" Bard noted. "I should head back to the ship and tell them not to say that they're demons when they get here..." So Bard decided to head back to the ship. Of course, the problem with that was obvious. "Wait...where's the ship?"

* * *

"Where's the Captain!?" the crew desperately shouted. "We finally found a great place to deck, and now he's gone!"

"Calm down, everyone!" Zan shouted. "He probably went to the island already."

"WHAT!?" the crew collectively shouted.

"You all act like you didn't expect this to happen" Araly said from the aft deck. "Of course he would head over there the moment you take your eyes off him."

"Birdman!" Rez roared, more outraged than anyone that Bard beat him to land. "Bard was with you last, right? Why didn't you talk him out of it!?"

"I didn't even know he could do that..." Birdman feebly defended. Rez smacked his head in shame and clutched at his skull with anger.

"Need a smoke?" Zan asked.

"No time!" Rez growled. "We have to dock now and find Bard before he does something stupid!"

"It's too late for that" Marco figured. "Let's just dock and not worry ourselves over an impossible task."

"Here here" The crew unanimously shouted.

"Wow" Araly said, "you guys catch on to Bard's antics pretty quick."

"We just have to be quick in the future" Zan said "and make sure we tell Bard not to bother with going to an island before us."

"It won't work" Araly said. She reached out from her hammock for a drink that Max, with his deathly-cold skin, was holding for her. "Bard's too stubborn for you guys to deal with."

"Then, Mrs. Samekawa" one of the burly crewmen whined, "why didn't _you_ try to stop him?"

"Because" Araly said, pausing to sip her drink with leisure, "even _I_ can't control him that much..."

"GAH!" the crew gasped.

"Yes" Zan said, blowing some smoke as the ship creaked in its new course, "it was hopeless all along..." And so the Imperial Dragon sailed on to the sheltered bay at the rear of the island, out of sight from the World Government flag and whatever stronghold may be there. Bard was stranded on the island, on his own to find some way to survive, while his crew approached at the pace their giant ship allowed them. Soon enough, all the Buster Pirates would be gathered on the island of perpetual fall...


	45. Adventure on the Kingdom Isle of Fall!

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"Mah..." Bard groaned, "this is bad. I wonder where that girl went. I hope she's okay..." Bard wandered lost around the dark and dead forest with no sense of where to go. He tried to track what signs of life there were, hoping they were indeed signs of humanity but so far they had just led him to more bears. While he beat them easily enough, it was still too easy to be considered proper training.

"I should try harder" Bard said to himself, "but that would be tiring. Who knows how long this forest goes on for. These trees aren't even high enough to get a clear view from...I got it! Soru!" Bard straddled his legs and prepared his body for a major jump. "**Soru...Max Height JUMP!**" With his legs pumping with sound-breaking speed, Bard jumped up easily clearing the trees. He even sped up past the edge of a cliff, upon which was a castle in the distance. From this amazing, height, Bard could see most of the island, and he saw what he was looking for: smoke.

"Alright!" Bard shouted happily. "There's a village over there, it seems. Great! I'll head over there and wait for everyone else!...huh?" As he came down, he turned in the air and saw another fire, this one in the middle of a brownish-red swampland on the border of the cliff-face. With a crash, he landed, and then sped off without wasting a bit of time. He darted through the woods, over rivers and past caves, to the direction of the village he saw. Of course, he didn't want to arouse any unnecessary attention, so once he knew he was close he slowed down and hid in the nearby trees.

It was an idyllically simple village. Single-level wooden houses and huts down a single cobblestone street. Bordered on two sides by forests, a steep path up a hill that led invariably to the castle Bard saw, and the calm coast down the way. Workers strained to construct a wall with minimal skill and strength, women rushed about with children nipping at their heels for thing Bard couldn't quite discern. Everyone wore very plain clothes of black and white, the women bonnets and the men hats with belts on them...

_Hat-Belts!?_ Bard thought. _What's wrong with these people!? Moreover, why are all these dudes so weak? If they built all these houses, they should be strong._ At this thought, Bard observed a young man, probably no older than himself, struggling to carry two buckets of water. _Maybe everything on this island is super heavy, or something...no, then the Bears would've been heavier too._ Suddenly, the burdened man fell in plain sight of the village peasants who also worked about.

"Brother, please" a nearby woman pleaded at the fallen man, "get yourself to thy feet! The guards may patrol near and find you like this!"

"Ugh" he grunted in the dust, "they may and leave me happily. If I am so weak that I cannot tally these pails forth, then a proper ritual would be a most fitting end of me!"

"Don't say such things!" the girl pleaded, rushing over and helping him up. The man tried to shove her away, but his hand just lightly impacted on her frail shoulder.

"Look around, sister" he said. "Not a man resides among us. We must exhaust ourselves lest the guards be informed and come to carry us away! The strong are always sent away with the outlanders to war and never return, while the weak ones are sent to rot away in the tax-payers dungeon, unable to work off what they loose to their own cursed weakness. The king, our noble king, has been swayed by such sinister forces indeed. The demons be damned!"

"Here, here" harked a nearby voice. Two men in archaic iron armor stood nearby with spears in hand. "Damn the demons straight back to the fiery pit. I mistook you for a weakling, young one, but one who would openly curse those malicious things is no weakling to I."

"Nor I" the other apparent guard said. "Please, carry on with thy work. We shall not inform the king's men yonder of your spill."

"Thank you" the man said as his sister helped him up. "Thank you, and thank god for your generosity." The two hurried off while the guards stared evilly at each other. Bard could tell they were up to something bad, but from here he couldn't hear them whispering. So, ignoring the caution in his head in favor of the righteousness, he darted forth and hid in a nearby shrub garden.

"The girl was quite pleasent" one guard lowed maliciously.

"Indeed" the other responded. "Now that we've won her brother's trust, attaining her person will be simple. A debt can do such wonders for us."

"Indeed" the soldier pal cackled. "Long live king Rupert!" Bard was fuming over the talk. Based on what he could gather, he knew they intended to steal the girl and then punish her brother. Every synapse in Bard's brain shouted 'RANKYAKU!', but his body instead moved back into the woods.

_Those two are in trouble_ he thought. _Especially that girl! I have to tail 'em and stop these jack-asses from doing anything bad! If not me, who else!?_"So this is our hidden harbor" Zan said with an air of triumph. The ship, massive as it was, was now stuck in a narrow river delta in the swampy border of the forest. "Hurray. Who's the moron responsible for docking this thing?"

* * *

"Rez" Araly shouted in blame. She sat on the shoulders of one of the pirates that was shimmying down the anchor rope to the ground where the anchor in question had impacted on the ground. Once she landed, she took in a deep, comforting sigh. "Ah, the land smells so much better than the sea!"

"What pirate says that!?" the pirate crew shouted at her.

"Hey, Rez" Zan called. "Come on out. You did a great job porting us, come see for yourself!" Rez hid in a barrel on deck, afraid that his poor maneuvering would get him the proverbial ax. Considering of course that more than one pirate in the crew owned a real ax...

"I refuse" Rez said, peeking up from his hiding spot.

"Suit yourself" Zan said, slipping on a leather harness and clipping it to his pants. "You can stay here with Max, then. At least you won't be lonely."

"Yeah" Rez said to himself, "but I'll get hit a lot. Alright" Rez finally gave in, "Wait for me. I'm technically the First-Mate, and with out Captain moroning his way around, I'm in charge."

"No you're not, Rez" one burly pirate shouted. "Mrs. Araly is!"

"Ho?" Araly grunted, hugging a tree with a leg in the air. "Bard and I aren't married, so come off the joke already. In any case, Bard can survive on his own. We shouldn't worry about him."

"That depends" Zan noted, hopping from the ship he vertically strode down. "This is a government island, according to our lookout. If Bard gets the Marine's attention, he could get into some serious badness." _Although_ Zan silently said aside, _if he understands enough of Rokushiki by know, he really won't get into anything above him..._

"Hey, wait up!" Rez called. He jumped off the edge of the ship and landed with his broadsword of doom on his back. Now he wore something new, a jacket over his normal shirt. "This is a fall island, so everyone bundle up. It's not uncommon for people to catch colds here because the relative nice weather keeps their guard down. Even the most pleasant conditions can change in a blink on the Grand Line."

"Right-o" the crew answered, zipping and buttoning up their own individual jackets and coats from nowhere tangible.

"Where'd those come from!?" Rez pointed out. Zan was the only one with an exposed torso, but Araly didn't question it. The straps on his chest obviously had some use.

"Where do we go from here, though?" Araly asked.

"Nowhere" Rez sternly replied. "It's safest for us to set up a base camp near the ship."

"Shouldn't we also try to get the ship out of the island as well?" Marco blatantly asked Rez. Rez fumed and growled away form the crew, then stomped off into the woods. "Don't get lost, okay!?"

"Hey now" one of Marco's friends said, "how can you say such a thing, Marco? You get lost in your own cabin!" Araly, being the most innocently detached of the crew, looked off in the direction that Rez had marched. She seemed lost in some thoughts about the crew, but who could say.

"Worried?" Zan asked, sneaking up from behind. Araly jumped a bit from his voice suddenly being behind her, but calmed down just as quick.

"A little" Araly said.

"You shouldn't be" Zan said, melding his way through the tree she leaned against, again startling her. "Bard's incredibly strong, believe that. I he brings trouble, he'll undoubtedly stop it as well...just have some faith, okay?" Zan took the cigarette from his mouth, tapped off the charred end and placed it back in his mouth. His terrible form sliced through the air he walked through, just like an assassin's body would.

* * *

"Worry not, brother dear" the girl form before said to her brother as he drew water from a well. "We all live to the highest order as our glorious king so wills."

"Hmph" the boy huffed. "I only praise the king when the guards are near. Tell no one, but I believe the king is what's keeping us to out knees in filth and our defenses down!"

_Yeah!_ Bard cheered from nearby. _Anti-government thinking is the first step towards Piracy! More competition is greatly encouraged by me!_ Unknown to Bard, he seemed to be in just the right place at the right time, for the guards from before also lurked about waiting for a moment to strike.

"Brother..." the sister said with alarm. "How could you think such terrible things? Our king is a wonderful man, who strives for our happiness, our very lives! He protects us form Outlanders and keeps the filthy demons at bay so we may continue our lives peacefully. I can understand thy plighted feelings, but I-"

"The kings cares not for any of us!" the boy shouted. His sister coiled back in horror, afraid that he would somehow explode and take her with him for saying such things. "He sits in his castle, hoarding all of our hard work and workers for his own selfish greed! A pox on the king!" His sister's heart panged painfully. "A pox on all his men as well! May the demons come again and engulf them all with their blackened mouths!" His sister fell, only to be caught by the guards. Bard's foot started tapping rapidly under the built-up tension to fight.

"Oh now" one guard said, gripping the girl's arm tight. "What be this?"

"Heresy, I believe" the other answered.

"You are aware, villager, of the price for such treason?" the clutching guard asked. "Such heresy?" The boy fell down and quivered against the well. "Life is the price."

"Oh?" the other added, "but however shall he pay us?"

"Yes" the guard said, now stroking a lecherous finger on the girl's face. "How indeed?"

"Have you an idea, boy?" the guard finally asked. Bard had had enough, but he needed to wait for only a second more for his own reason. The boy twitched, knowing the answer the guards wanted. So, he stood up, stood firm and delivered his answer with the pride of a dying lion.

"If I am a Heretic" the boy said, "then I must die..." The guards were stunned and his sister, while relieved for herself, began to cry. The boy stretched out his arms and tilted his head down so his eyes were shadowed by the brim of his belted hat. "Take my life, for I have sinned beyond sin. I am evil...please leave my pure sister at peace and remove this spiteful one from the world!" The guards both smirked and drew out their spears.

"Oh, we shall purge this vile one" the guard said, tossing the girl against a tree, "but the girl is tainted by thy very existence." The boy looked up with angry shock. "Who's to say such blood does only stop at thy heart?"

"Perhaps she has some Heretic blood in her?" the other guard said.

"We shall find out" the former snidely responded while the boy clenched his teeth and glared. "Now, DIE DEMON!" The guards rushed in, spears out, ready to impale. The boy was frightened for his life.

"**TEKKAI!!!**" shouted something. The guards stopped. The boy looked up. He could see the sneering face of a golden dragon against a billowing black sky. Bard stood firm, dashing into scene just in time, with the shattered spear points falling off his towering frame like crumbling dust. "Hehehe" he lowed. The guards were scared stiff, which Bard took advantage of by hammering one with a hip-twisting hook, sending him flying into the other and then both started tumbling away together. Bard let his huge muscles relax as he turned around with a smile to the young man he just saved.

"I like you, kid" Bard said. "You've got guts!" The boy was at a loss for words at this smiling, muscular behemoth. This billowing black-coated man who just saved him, who showed no marks or scars from the weapons at all.

"Who art thou?" the boy slowly asked. Bard let the wind sweep by him, his golden hair bristling like fire in the sky and his cape-like coat catching the breeze.

"'Thou?'" Bard repeated. "What's a 'thou!?'" Indeed, this clashing of cultures will take time to sort out...


	46. Buster Pirates, Split Up?

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"So this 'thou' you keep talking about" Bard said, "you sure it's not a food?"

"V-Verily" the young man responded. He had given in to his own maligned pride and invited his savior, strange though he was, into his own home. His sister was healthy but shocked, and stayed sleeping in her bed where Bard had carried her, and no one in town was any the wiser that this house held within the most destructive force from the high seas.

"Well, whatever" Bard shrugged off. "Do you have any food?"

"Somewhat" the young man said. "By the by, I am named Jedidiah. Who art thou?"

"...uh...you want my name?" Bard guessed. Still unaware of what language this young man spoke. He Jedidiah nodded. "I'm Bard D. Samekawa!"

"Bard?" Jed repeated. "As in one who sings tales of grand adventure?"

"Something like that" Bard answered.

"But what of the rest of thy name?" Jed began, handing his guest a mug of well water. "What dost the D in thy name represent?" Bard guzzled down his drink quickly and gave a quick shrug before planting the mug down and breathing out.

"I've never know" Bard said with a smile. "From what I've heard, my father never knew what it meant either, but he had it. His father had it too. Heck, just about everyone in my family has had the middle initial 'D', but no one's ever known why..."

"How strange" Jed said thoughtfully. "It must be some deep, family mystery, right?"

"That's it!" Bard agreed loudly. "It's a mystery! No one knows! You're pretty smart, you know?"

"Yes, well, "Jed shyly started, "I suppose we may keep my proclaimed 'intellect' within this place. It would bode me no good if a rumor of any like regarding me should surface in the town."

"Oh yeah, about that" Bard said, "what's with this place? Why's everyone so weak despite all the work you do?" Jed shifted uneasily at the question. Still, Bard pressed on. "Why do you have to hide your strength like this?" Jed clenched his fist on the table and gritted his teeth in preparation to respond.

"It's all because" he started angrily, "of that man...the king of our fair island country, that selfish swine! He seeks to create a massive army and send them to their deaths for no purpose but self-gratified glory. He is a monster of a mad man, risking the lives of his loyal subjects and countrymen to deal with foreigners, outlanders, and worst yet of all pirates!" Bard choked.

"You don't like pirates?" Bard asked trying to stay innocent.

"If there hadn't been that pointless war" Jed started, straining to hold back tears, "my brother would still be alive..." Jed began sniffling, sobbing, with his head on the table in his folded arm. "Damn it all. I always cry! What manner of man is this that cries like a child at the drop of one's hat!?" Bard sat silent, listening to his new friend cry over, of all things, pirates.

"Men can cry" Bard said, stopping Jed for a moment. "Sometimes a guy just has to deal with pain however his body tells him to. Some guys take long runs, some guys beat people up, but the strong guys cry because they know that crying won't make them any less than they already are. The weak ones are the ones who can't cry, who have prides that they can't bother to hurt over anything at all. I pity men who can't cry over painful things. They'll never win their wars..." Jed sat back in his chair, eyes on the floor, and reflected on his guests encouraging words. He sniffled a few times more and wiped away his tears.

"Thank you, sir Bard" he said. Bard removed his serious demeanor and smiled widely, the corners of his eyes and back, as acceptance of thanks.

"Oh, by the way" Bard started, "what about that girl in the bed? Does she have a name?" Jed turned and looked at his sister in the bed near the fireplace. "I feel kind of bad that I have to refer to her as 'that girl' or 'your sister'."

"...Emily" Jed said. "Her name is Emily."

"Emily" Bard repeated. "That sounds resembling..." As he stroked at his chin with his powerful fingers, he wondered how his crew was doing without him...

* * *

"HOW BIG CAN THESE BEARS BE!?" shouted Rez as he sprinted away from said bear.

"How dumb can you be!?" Zan shouted. "This is the Grand Line. Always expect what can't be expected!"

"Isn't it 'Expect the unexpected'!?" Rez corrected while still running away from the hungry monster.

"I hate clichés!" Zan said.

"Screw this!" Rez shouted, stopping and skidding as he turned around. He placed his hands on his broadsword-cannon and let his momentum kick his forward leg up. The bear kept on angrily charging forward, just like he wanted it to. Then, with his thunderous step forward, Rez swung his sword over his head and brought it down hard, firing a cannon blast as the sights were locked on the bear's face for that brief moment. A tunnel of swirling dust and leaves kicked up where the blast traveled, from the barrel of Rez's gun all the way to the bear's steaming face as it laid amidst the knocked over trees from the path of destruction it made.

"That's how it's done" Rez said. "And anyway, why were you running!? You could've jumped _through _the damn thing, right!?"

"Too much salt" Zan said, lighting up a cigarette. "If there's salt it gets hard for me to pass through, and blood and saliva are full of all kinds of nasty crap that I don't want to touch."

"So it's not all about the salt?" Rez asked dejectingly. "In any case, we ran a bit too far."

"Indeed" Zan agreed. "We already know that this cliff-wall is an island-wide feature."

"The shore's right over there, too" Rez pointed out, "if you can call that a shore. It's more like the banks of a creek around here, rather than an ocean."

"Every island here is different" Zan said. "The Grand Line is like a box of poisonous experimental candies. You never know which one's your already immune to and which will kill you instantly."

"Quit butchering language!" Rez hotly demanded. "So, we have two choices, right?"

"Run along the coast and find the boat" Zan explained "or climb the cliff face. I'll leave that to you, Mr. First Mate." Rez growled and stood in thought for a second. While he thought, a crisp breeze blew past him. It wasn't a smell that one would seem to associate with autumn, it was hotter. Rez couldn't quite understand what went through his mind, but he knew that smell from somewhere.

"You smell that?" Rez finally asked.

"Does that mean the coast or the cliff?" Zan asked.

"Never mind that now" Rez demanded. "Something's close...something smelly."

"How articulate" Zan scoffed. "You're rather unpleasant to smell and you're fairly close. I suppose it must be you, you musky bastard."

"SHUT UP, DAMMIT!" Rez shouted angrily. The birds all flocked away from him in an instant. Even the ones that weren't close to him flew away. That's when his instincts began to take hold. "There someone over there" he said, facing the direction the smell came from. Of all places, it looked like the deepest and darkest area of the swamplands on the island.

"Should we investigate?" Zan asked. Rez gave it another moment of thought, but unfortunately the smell was beginning to work his last nerve.

"Yeah, we should" Rez said firmly. He began marching forward, keeping one hand on a gunblade at all times, and Zan followed.

_That's the wrong answer, moron_ Zan though as he followed Rez into the dark woods, _but whatever. I'm sure Bard would've done the same thing..._"Hey, Birdman!" Marco shouted down below to the watchman in the crow's nest. "Can you spot them?"

* * *

"There's a village about a kilometer or two from here!" he shouted back. "Rez and Zan went running in the opposite direction, but I've lost them already!"

"Damn" Marco cursed. "We're barely here an hour and we've already been disintegrated. Alright, I'm taking temporary command here!"

"No you're not!" one of the burly Busters protested. "Ex-Captain Max is!" He held up the powerful pirate's limp body and shook it about like a doll.

"Quit that!" Marco growled at the foolish pirate.

"I disagree twofold!" yet another upstart pirate exclaimed. "Araly should be acting captain!" To that nomination, Araly glanced over from her comfy little tree branch with a hint of disdained fear in her face.

"Well, alright" the previous burly one agreed.

"What's the worst that can happen?" Marco said.

"Are you guys serious!?" Araly protested. "No way. No way at all! I can't be a pirate captain, I'm not a pirate! What's more, I'm just a girl!"

"I've known plenty of strong women pirates on the seas" Marco admitted. "You can even control Bard, so we believe in your leadership." With a gleaming smile and a winking eye, Marco gave his thumbs-up of total approval.

"Hooray for the Captain's better half!" the burly pirate shouted, following suit of the rest of the crew as they gave Araly their approving thumbs-up.

_What's wrong with these people!?_ Araly shouted inside. "Well, I still move that Bard is an irrelevant matter. If he gets into trouble he'll fight his way out and somehow find us when he's done. Rez and Zan can take care of themselves, provided they don't end up killing each other...I say we just wait for the log to change and set up a camp right here."

"What if the marines or government officials come for us?" one of the pirates asked.

"Then we'll fight them, of course" Araly said, as if the answer was one everyone should have known. "You're the Buster Pirates. Bard won't let you guys lose a fight."

"Correction" Marco offered. "_We're_ the Buster Pirates."

"Yeah, I said that" Araly said.

"No, you said 'you'" Marco pointed out. "'You' doesn't include 'Araly', does it?" Araly became tense. "So, acting captain, why don't you say it right? We know you can." Suddenly, Araly's worry left her. All this time on the sea with Bard and nothing tragic (aside form the Sea King debacle) had really happened to her. Evan on Paradiso Isola, the entire crew united to protect each other and her. She even allied with the Ninpo Pirates back then as well! That's when Araly decided that she wouldn't turn back. Her old life was far behind her now, blocked by the massive Red Line. She was now a pirate, and took in a deep breath to admit that with pride.

"We're the Buster Pirates!" She shouted over the tops of the trees. "No on messes with US!"

"ARRRRR!!!" the crew howled. The haunting roar that rose up over the island lingered in the air, further deepening the impact to be had at the hands of these gathering powers!

"By the way" Araly said aside to Marco, "how long will this log take to set?"

"According to our books" Marco replied, "it should only take five days."

"WHAT!?" Araly growled.


	47. Grabbing the Bull by the Horns

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"Verily, sir Bard" Jed happily said. "This attire suits you quite well."

"Eehhh..." Bard groaned. It took the highest amount of sneaking and stealth to get the extra-huge sized clothes to Bard, considering that no one in the village had his obscene build, but Bard finally had the right clothes for public. "Where's my coat?"

"I have it kept in an utmost secret place" Jed assured him. "None shall suspect your clothing to be under mine bed!"

"Smart" Bard pointed out. "So, what now?"

"Well" Jed started, "I suppose now I must go about my chores as usual. You are welcome to my home. When my sister does awaken, please ensure her that I am safe and be not afraid to tell her that you indeed saved her. I'm sure she will be more than happy to cook a proper meal for her hero."

"Mah, I don't have to tell her everything, do I?" Bard asked. "I don't want to bore her or anything..."

"Just stay here" Jed insisted. "I shall return after the chores are done. And please, tell no one that you are an outsider. It will cause us all far too much trouble to bear!" Bard gave a stern thumb up and watched his gracious host leave. Then, with a sigh, he fell onto the sitting-room couch made awkwardly from wood and soft fir.

"Pirates would have ruined his life..." Bard lamented. "I can't tell him who I am, he'll hate me and kick me out. Worse yet, I won't get food! Man...I hope the crew's doing okay..." In the adjacent room, from behind the thin wooden walls of privacy, Emily finally stirred. First she sat up, then clutched her head in agony, then listened in to the foreign voice in her house.

"I just have to make sure he doesn't find out, is all" Bard told himself. "If he asks about the symbol, it's a family thing. From now until I can safely leave with everyone, I shall have nothing to do with pirates! In fact, I'm not even captain anymore. Not until I can dress like one...and smell like one..." Emily had listened intently, and now was curious to see just what this man, a supposed 'pirate' looked like. She crawled carefully and peeked around the corner into the room, but didn't see him.

"Oh?" Bard said from above her. Emily looked up and saw him, standing over her. "You're awake? That's great!" Emily retreated quickly and nervously cleared her throat.

"Ah, yes" she said. "Who art thou and where had my brother gone?"

"What's 'thou'? I still don't know!" Bard said. "Anyway, you're brother went out to do his chores. I'm the guy that saved you and him from the guards back in the woods!"

"Oh!" Emily gasped. "You are!? Oh, joy! I had hoped so dearly in my sleep that everything would be okay, and now here stands my hero! However can I repay you, noble sir?"

"Food!" Bard simply demanded.

"Then food I shall give you" Emily modestly said, rising up from the floor in her dirty clothes. "Please excuse me a second while I change and I shall prepare you a dinner as great as I can make."

"Awesome!" Bard cheered. "I'll just wait then, I guess." He walked off with a smile, turning back with a bit of concern to see that a shadow was cast from the bedroom as Emily changed. Bard nearly backed away in embarrassment, but something concerned him about her silhouette. It was malnourished. It looked like an emaciated, almost skeletal frame underneath the clothes she had worn. Bard became sudden;y serious, seeing firsthand just what Jedidiah had been talking about earlier.

_They starve and work themselves so much that their bodies suffer for it_ Bard noted as he walked back to the kitchen sullenly. _None of them should live like that. Hell, no one anywhere should be afraid to be strong. This king, and these soldiers...I can't sit by and let all this happen! Its' just not right!_

"Good sir" Emily called, coming from the room with her falsely form-fitting dress to the kitchen, "what would you like me to make for-" The kitchen was empty. Given that the kitchen and the rest of the house could be seen from nearly any corner, this meant that Bard had vanished. "Good sir?" Emily called again. Unknown to her, Bard had taken his clothes from the hiding place and swapped them for the large, plain suit he was given before. Captain Bard was on the move.

* * *

Elsewhere on the island, Rez and Zan walked together and continued unwillingly to be lost.

"This bites" Rez complained. "You got any extra cigarettes?"

"Not for you" Zan said, irking Rez. "Looks like the trees are getting closer together."

"Yeah" Rez agreed. "We should stick close. God knows what kind of weirdness is in this swamp."

"Indeed" Zan said. "Well, come here then."

"Oh no" Rez huffed. "I'm the first-mate, that means I have authority right now. You line up with me, not the other way a-" then he hit a tree because he wasn't looking. Zan stopped long enough for Rez to shake off the stupid embarrassment of what had happened.

"I'd rather not go over there, if you don't mind" Zan mocked, pulling Rez away from the tree. Rez growled at him furiously, then snapped at himself and walked onward. The light became more and more dim as they both continued through the salty marsh. Zan grew continuously cautious, like the water would suddenly sprout arms and drag him in. It was starting to bother Rez, so he stopped.

"Hey" Rez said. "Tell me something." Zan stopped and listened. "About your power, how did you really get it? Your story feels a bit lacking."

"Really?" Zan said. "You don't trust the assassin's story? It's like I said, I was a kid. I didn't know any better. Then, one day, everyone I knew got killed. I was spared because of my power, enough said."

"...yeah" Rez responded. "Wasn't it ever hard?"

"Not really" Zan answered. "Besides, why do you care?"

"..." Rez kept silent for a while, up until the air started to get especially heavy and the light particularly blue. "Hey, stick together. It'll be harder for us to get out if we get separated."

"Again with this" Zan grumbled. "Why should we?" Zan found himself shouting at Rez, who had taken a digressing path that somehow bent upwards on a bank above the sloshing waters. "Oh" Zan said with surprise.

"Get up here!" Rez ordered. Zan made the bound in a single jump, landing right next to his temporary commander, and thereby upsetting the incredibly loose ground under them. Rez started sliding down into the mushy water below while Zan, acting on his feet and latching himself by all the knives he could hold to a tree.

"You alright?" Zan shouted down. Rez grabbed onto the wet bank and pulled himself up from the deep pool of salty water. "You need a towel?" Suddenly, Zan's grip gave way to the rotten bark of the tree and he found himself falling towards the water as well. In an act of quick thinking, Rez unsheathed his broadsword and allowed Zan to land on it. "Thanks" Zan said with a sigh of relief.

"No problem" Rez replied.

"Oh" a mysterious new voice said, "there's a problem! Hmmhmhmhmhm..." and so the voice trailed off laughing with a hum into the darkness.

"We ain't alone here" Rez pointed out.

"Seems not" Zan agreed. "Let's try and find out what's going on quick."

"Right" Rez said, contemplating his next move. "Just stick close and follow me."

"Whatever you say" Zan said submissively. "Just watch out for renegade trees." Rez growled at him as he walked ahead, keeping his steely eyes wide open for danger...and trees. Both young men were blissfully unaware of just how bad their situation was, for deep in the wasteland swamps of this faraway land lurked monsters...

* * *

"Good soldiers of the Great King Rupert!" a dutiful soldier shouted to a line of men wielding spears. "Our keen scouts have spotted, coming upon our land, outlanders!" The soldiers growled in response. "What's more, they bear no distinguishable flag! In fact, they hold a demonic mark at the head of their ship! A testament to sin and evil!" The soldiers growled even deeper still. "Good men of the Great King, we must march upon these heathens with spears of divine strength and swords of righteous might!" The men roared. The outer border of the tiny village was the home of the barracks where these men stood ready for a fight.

"Let us not forget!" the captain again shouted, holding up his sword for all to see. "The most sinful race, those frightful Demons in the swamp that feed from our fears and failures, will be watching us. They have no honor and will strike at our backs whilst we defend our home from their outland brethren."

"Heathens!" one soldier shouted.

"Blasphemy!" another added.

"We must guard ourselves well" the captain continued. "The fate of these loyal weaklings lays upon our shoulders. None shall waver or retreat, lest ye should abandon thy own ambition! Always stand firm and strong in the face of our great aversion, no matter what the cost!" The soldiers roared once more, praising their great captain and the greater king, while the citizens worked in town below. The righteous battle-cries had stirred the hears of the villagers that heard. The very mountain that rose up from the center of the island seemed to resonate with a wonderful energy that the people fed off.

"Oh, good soldiers!" a woman shouted, hoping they could hear her. "Do thy great deeds! Vanquish the demons!"

"You truly are great men to fight those things!" a man shouted. "None of us could ever do such heroic things!" Among the cheering crowd that kept its fair distance, Jedidiah sulked as he worked himself exhausted. He could hear the ringing of metal already from across the valleys, and knew what terror truly awaited those brave men in the swamplands.

_They are not heroes or great men_ Jed thought to himself, walking away. _They are only fools to go against those demons..._ Suddenly, a hot winds blew past him, knocking him over and spilling his buckets once more. "What goes on?" he asked himself, rubbing wherever it hurt. He looked where the wind blew, seeing a cut path of people who had been pushed down by it. Most everyone that stood worshiping the soldiers uphill was now on the ground with the others helping them up.

"Art thou ready, good soldiers!?" the captain shouted. "Are ye ready for glory in the name of the King!?"

"YEA!" they roared. "Death to the Pirates!"

"HEY!" a new voice shouted from behind the line. Every soldier turned with a scowl and armed weapon in hand to the center of the open barracks where the voice came from.

"Who dares!?" the captain shouted. In the open, a tall and wide man stood. His black coat billowed in the cool autumn breeze, and his hair waved in the sky like golden fire. A smile grew across his shady face.

"Who?" the man reiterated. "Why me, that's who!" Bard stood, arms crossed, ready to defy the force of the gathered army with his every muscle exposed and shining in the sunlight. "I'm the Captain of the Buster Pirates! You want to mess with my crew...?" Bard uncrossed his arms, separated his feet and spread out his legs, taking a fighting position. Arms tense and flexing, back arched and ready to strike, palms parallel but far apart with rigid, curled fingers. One arm over head, the other held close to his torso. His smile stayed as the wind picked up and threw his coat up like a cape made of dark fire, revealing part of the very 'evil symbol' the soldiers had talked about. "...you'll have to mess with me FIRST!!!"

"Grr..." the captain growled. "Militia, forward! Destroy that man!" Bard just stood, eager and ready to fight an army on his own and test his power for real.

"Come on..." Bard growled as the line approached. Downhill, the village people could tell something terrible was happening as the soldiers rushed full-speed back into the barracks grounds with weapons glaring in the light. Jedidiah was especially worried, and now broke off in a full sprint for home.


	48. Rez and Zan make a Great Team!

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The crew of the Buster Pirates had successfully set up a proper camp. Birdman, the lookout, kept continuous watch out for signs of Rez and Zan in the adjacent swamps while the rest of the crew continued moving as quickly as possible. Using materials from inside their massive ship, a small camp of wooden shacks and tents had been instantly erected in the river delta. Bridges were hastily nailed together by the experienced carpenters, shacks were speedily built by the strong hands, food was hunted and retrieved by the fighting cooks; and all the while Araly sat and organized. Her speed and efficiency in commanding was unprecedented, and the main reason for the pirates phenomenal speed in setting up camp.

"Ms. Captain, ma'am!" one of the crewman called. "Where should this wood go?"

"On the dry pile" Araly answered. The pirates hulked the wood to the pile of wood so neatly organized and stacked up on a hill away from the sloshing swamp waters.

"How should the meat be cooked?" Marco shouted form the barbecue pit.

"You're the cook" Araly said. "You should know that."

"Yes ma'am" Marco shouted back.

"Mrs. Samekawa!" one of the burly pirates shouted. He ran at her with Max perched on his arm. "Where should we put Max?"

"Out of the way, I suppose" Araly said.

"What about the guys?" another pirates asked between hammering a wooden stake into place.

"They'll be fine" Araly said. She continued to madly scribble in an unintelligible shorthand all the findings and oddities on the island. Giant bears with bacon-flavored meat, a central plateau on which seemed to be a governing castle that waved a World Government flag. So far, the pirates had no contact with any islanders, if there indeed where any, and there had been no sign of the proper captain. Araly kept everything in a careful log that spanned across a few books and scrolls. She had to wipe the sweat from her brow to keep from smudging the ink occasionally.

"Need any help, madam captain?" one of the pirates asked nicely. Araly shook her head, to in the zone to be bothered with speaking. The pirate shrugged an went away. Araly kept working until someone carefully set a glass of water on her cluttered table.

"You work really hard" Marco said. "Maybe you should take a break for now."

"Well..." Araly said thoughtfully, taking the water and chugging it. "No" she sternly answered. "My place in the crew is as a documenter. I have to record all of our findings from start to finish on every island we go to so we can at least have a shred of knowledge as we go along."

"Whoever gave you that title?" Marco asked.

"I did!" Araly shouted at him. "Besides, this is all I can do as a pirate, anyway. I can't fight or sail or even stand on a ship without getting horrible sick...the only thing I can do is stand on dry land and take everything in..." A wet spot appeared on a blank section of her papers. Araly was tearing up slightly, and Marco took it upon himself to try and cheer her up.

"Well do your best then" Marco said. "We'll all be counting on you to tell us everything we need to know on this island. On top of that, we'll need you to relate it all to Bard once we find him." Araly cracked a short smile and went straight back to her papers under the cover of her windless tent. "I'll bring you some meat once its ready, okay?"

"Okay" Araly replied shyly. She wiped away the moisture on her face and continued scrawling away.

* * *

"Okay" Rez said triumphantly. He raised up his arm and gave a victorious thumb up to the nothingness before him. "We're screwed!"

"Then why celebrate!?" Zan asked. "You sure this thing'll hold?" Zan said, lazily inspecting his wrist.

"It damn well better" Rez huffed, tugging his arm and pulling Zan froward. They had tied themselves together with Rez's bandanna by the wrists, now that the woods were beginning to get annoyingly dark and their vision was progressively becoming a moot factor.

"I'm fairly certain that someone's watching us right now" Zan said.

"Yeah" Rez agreed. "I have that weird uneasiness in my gut. I can't hear much though. The water's too loud for a swamp."

"It's obviously not a normal swamp" Zan pointed out. "Anyway, let's move forward. Talking about the weirdness you find on a Grand Line island just wastes energy. Get ready to attack something if need be."

"Sure thing" Rez said. He unsheathed and armed his duel gunblade pistols, keeping them at head level. They advanced slowly, keeping in step with each other all the way. The walkway was becoming very slowly moist with salty water. Zan started feeling his body wavering in the presence of oceanic water, but he held strong. At the very worst case, he could hop on Rez's back and trick him into running forward to get him off.

Suddenly, there was a feint whooshing above them. "They're here" Zan noted. Rez perked his ears up and closed his eyes. He could hear and acknowledge the stalker much better now. His senses as a duelist picked up and he could feel them jumping from tree to tree. He could hear the low hum of something electronic on them and the soft clatter of weapons in holsters. They sounded wrapped in loose cloth that had a dampness to it, signs of prolonged exposure to the swampy air.

"Three of 'em" Rez whispered.

"Great" Zan replied. "Can you hit them?"

"Sure I can" Rez said "but what good would it do? They aren't trying to kill us."

"...good point" Zan said. "They're just taunting us to get us deeper into the swamp."

"Why?" Rez asked.

"...an ambush?" Zan said, not exactly sure. There was a very feint whispering among the voices as they stopped moving. Then, they started running away. "Are they gone?" Zan asked. Rez moved forward, bringing Zan with him. Three loud bangs and muzzle flashes came from deeper in the thick woods. The three mysterious people each fired a gun at the two men, missing each time but coming rather close. Zan had used his power just in case, and became detached from Rez as a result.

"Come on!" Rez shouted. He started forward, tackling and bounding from tree to tree through the swamp. Using his instincts, Zan began in what he assumed was the same direction, but he soon wavered from the path that Rez ran. They both continued on until they could each see a dim light in the distance. With that as a goal, they went forward, Zan through the trees and Rez jumping from them.

They both landed in a clearing with a bonfire and a multitude of moisture-dripping weapons at their vital spots. A deep voice gave a yawn from the darker, shaded side of the pitch-black swamp. There was no sky, the smoke from the fire creating a black cloud that further darkened the surrounding swamp. Rez and Zan had entered on the approximate East and South sides of the clearing and stared at each other with mutual loathing.

"You fail" Zan said, dragging from his nearly extinguished cigarette. Rez clenched his lower lip and ragingly furrowed his brow to express his anger.

* * *

"Sire!" a young man reported to an armored soldier. Upon the plateau of the island were all the rich, noble houses that held soldiers and royal men of the like near to the castle that waved the World's flag. The soldier turned around with a scowling mouth full of meat.

"Who dares bother me!?" he shouted to the young scout.

"I do apologize" the scout said, "but I have a most troubling report! There is an outlander, a pirate, who has challenged the guard!"

"WHAT!?" the soldier yelled with outrage. The scout quivered under the weight of his voice.

"The militia" he continued, "has surrounded him and awaits word from the Paladins. Please captain, the Argent Fist is needed!" The soldier captain in gold and glorious white steel armor sighed.

"Very well" he said. "Tell the soldiers to stand firm and keep the pirate knave from moving. I will hence with my men to the battlefield after a quick visit to the alter."

"Thank ye, kind Captain Dom" the scout said, bowing his way out the door. The hefty man gave a hefty sigh and started loudly stomping towards the metallic hall where these 'Paladins', warriors of light and righteousness, stayed. Just before reaching the entrance, he took a few suspicious gazes behind him. Storm clouds were moving in from the far north, a sure sign of rain coming. The streets of the royal district were barren, and so the captain made a quick brake for the rear of the barracks. In the back, nestled carefully in the woods, was a hidden cave from which and eerie glow came.

"Witch!" the captain shouted. "Show thyself. I require thy magics to produce arms of Heaven! A scourge has come upon us once more."

"You don't have to shout!!!" a raggedy old woman's voice yelled from within the cave. "Just what kind of magic do you need, anyway?"

"All kinds" the captain said back. "Whatever you can scribe, I shall take openly."

"Fine" the old woman shouted back. Deep within the cavern, the warty old hag who dressed in noble-looking rags had a wall full of symbols and interpretations. She took a flask of ink and a pen, then ripped down a small strip of paper from a massive roll of nearly infinite sheets. With the red ink, she wrote down one of the inscriptions on the wall of runes. The symbol glowed brightly like fire, then settled into a plain black.

"Hmph" the old woman huffed quietly. "Magic nothing. These backwards weirdos just can't grasp simple concepts like explosives or electric ink! I can't believe the World Government even associates with these costumed freaks..." Obviously, this woman was not one from the island she occupied. Having a secretive hovel among the most prominent part of the country, she was a great asset of military force, providing the so claimed 'Argent Fist', soldiers who use magic in the name of their great king, with the necessary magical slips of exploding paper by request.

"Here's your stinking magic!" the woman growled, tossing out a bundle of sheets at the nervous captain. He caught them all and tucked them away carefully so no one would see, then he proceeded without a word through to the back of the barracks. "YOU'RE WELCOME!" the hag screamed.

* * *

"My my" said a regal girls voice. "It seems the clouds are moving in..."

"Shall I close the windows for you, milady?" an older woman asked.

"No" the girl said. "I want the rain in here."

"But, milady" the older woman started again.

"No!" the girl shouted. "Please, leave me." The woman bowed her way out of the room, huge and lavish, and shut the door promptly. The girl watched the sky with a forlorn gaze, then turned her head down and observed the swamps. She sat at the highest tower of the castle stronghold. She observed with a longing gaze from her flat, red eyes the smoky cloud of black that loomed over the swamplands where the so called 'demons' lived.

"What are you up to now?" she said to the wind as it blew through her snow-white hair and across her pale skin, "Mr. Heretic?" Something strange was stirring on the island of curious times. What part would the Buster Pirates play? As the storm moves in ever closer, so do the answers...


	49. Advent of the Argent Fist

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"Ha!?" Bard grunted. "Aren't you gonna attack me?" he asked. The militia had all spears and swords pointed at him in a tight, fearful circle. The last three men who rushed Bard were subjects to his iron tough fists and his magical, air-cutting kicks. Those three had been carried off the battlefield and quartered in a random villagers house.

"Keep the line tight, men!" the captain of the guard shouted. "We mustn't let this cur pass into the village until the Argent Fist has come!"

"The village?" Bard repeated. "But I came from there!"

"Guh..." the captain grunted stupidly. Now that that idea for morale was out the window, he thought of a new phrase to inspire his men to hold fast their defenses. "Regardless, we can't allow him to associate and taint the minds of the fair villagers!"

"I met someone down there already" Bard noted. "He's a nice guy."

"Damn you, pirate!" the captain shouted. "Let us forget this notion of lines and holding, and destroy him now!" The militia, at the captain's order, stood shaking in their rattling armor. The idea of rushing this huge, terribly strong man was a sure path to a quick decimation. "I said NOW!" the captain screamed again. The soldiers shouted their wordless battle cries at Bard, still not rushing, then they marched forward with weapons ready.

"That's better" Bard said. He saw all the weapons at him and made his instantaneous plan. He raised up his leg, drew it back behind him and made a wide, sweeping kick with the roar of "RANKYAKU!" The soldiers in front of him flew back. Their metal armor was split open, their chests leaked blood, and the entire section of the closing line was thrown through the air. Then, still using the energy from his spinning kick, Bard turned around on his toes and Made a kick straight up, breaking the weapons that the soldiers pointed at him. Now unarmed,the soldiers lost heart and all ran away.

"How did he...?" the captain awed. He angrily shook off his appreciation and reiterated, "How dare ye!?"

"'Ye'??" Bard repeated, hopping around on his foot to the enraged captain of the guard he so effortlessly defeated. "What's a 'ye'? What's a 'thou'? What the hell language are you people speaking!?"

"I shall vanquish th-" the captain began, but hearing his opponent's protest, he decided to downgrade his language to cement his challenge. "ye-you...knave!"

"What's a 'knave'?" Bard asked innocently.

"Art thou slow in the head, gold-headed demon spawn!?" the captain screamed. He dropped his weapon, removed his metal breastplate and left his muscular torso exposed like Bard's. Bard just blinked at him and put up his fists. "Prepare for my wrath!" The captain ran forward with his fists up and ready. Bard leaned forward and dodged the first punch, letting it sail over his shoulder. Then, he snapped to the side and caught the captain's fist between his forearm and bicep.

"You're wrath's kinda weak" Bard pointed out. The guard captain was lifted from the ground as Bard shot back up and used his back muscles to toss him over shoulder and send him barreling through the air. The captain went into and through the weak walls of the nearby barracks while Bard stood bored in the clear, open grounds. "That was kinda fun, but these guys can't fight very well." To that effect, Bard rested on the ground, sitting on his toes and keeping his legs bent in front.

_I wonder _Bard began to himself, _how everyone's doing right now. I bet Rez and Zan are getting into a fight over setting up camp...Araly's probably to afraid to set foot on land. I hope the crew isn't getting overwhelmed with the bears. I liked those bears. I wonder how they taste..._ His incidental trip aside, reminding himself of his crew's health gave him the minor incentive necessary to read his Rokushiki book. He pulled it out and started reading the next major section of martial arts while, unknown to him,the Argent Fist was preparing to march him down.

* * *

"I hate you" Rez grumbled.

"No" Zan said, "you hate the _idea_ of me. You actually like me."

"Shut the hell up" Rez growled. They were upside down and side by side. Their captors circled around them, faces blemished with smoke and ash from living under the cloud that hid them. Most of the coughed in the covert shrubs, obvious signs of rampant sickness from close-quartered living in the swampland. On a wooden throne, built out of a mighty tree at the border of the clearing, sat their leader behind a black veil of lace. His voice continued to send out low growls at brief intervals through the clearing that dissolved into the thicket.

"What should we do?" a sickly minion said to his mates behind the boys.

"I say we should burn 'em at tha stake!" another voice said. The others weakly cheered with his idea, but another one offered his own to stop the celebration.

"No, we should cut open deir legs and send 'em into tha swamp!" he growled.

"Let 'em die all slow like" another lowed.

"No..." the previous one started, "no I still say we burn 'em."

"Where's the fun in that?" the leg guy said. "We get 'em to scream a bit and then that's it?"

"Well we can't see 'em die your way at all!" the burn guy pointed out. "We just assume they die in tha swamp."

"I say" a particularly nefarious one started, "we flay 'em alive and eat their flesh in front of 'em!!!"

"NO!" the others yelled, quickly falling into coughing fits.

"It's always cannibalism with you, Bob!" one of them said between his coughs. It seemed that the constant growling of their boss proper had been drowned out with their own petty arguments.

Rez became irate and whistled loudly into the clearing. "Hey!" he shouted, "who wants to tell me what's going on here!?" The minions stared at him with arrogance, and then all was quiet when the steady growls came back from the throne.

"Oh, you're not intimidating at all, are you?" Zan mocked. Rez growled and glowered into space ahead.

"Um, sir?" the dainty, childish voice of a young woman said, "I believe I can tell you why we're here."

"Eh?" Rez grunted. A beautiful youth with curly blond hair, dressed in rags and sporting hideous boils on her arms, stepped forth.

"You see" she started, "we are the 'demons' the villagers refer to, and we are called such because of our leader-"

"Villagers?" Zan repeated. "You mean this island has a village?"

"Well" she began again, "it has a castle, doesn't it? Anyway, we're not really demons, although our appearances don't speak much for that. I used to be so pretty, oh so pretty! I won pageant after pageant, even as a little girl, and when I blossomed, I was the talk of my entire home island!"

"Can someone else talk to us" Rez asked gruffly "without talking our ears off!?"

"Don't mind him" Zan said to the girl. "He's just a moron, and you're still very pretty anyway. But, can you skip to the point please?" The girl shyly giggled and nodded to him.

"We are the Ghost Killer Pirates" she formally announced. "Almost a year ago, we came upon this island and attempted to coup the current government and ransack the resources. Unfortunately, their armed forces were able to defeat us without guns, using a sort of magic."

"Magic?" Zan began. "You're sure it's not just some Devil Fruit users?"

"Oh no!" she said, waving her red, bumpy harms. "They banish fruit users like the boss into the swamp and expect them to die! It's part of the reason we're called 'demons', you see, as our captain is a user..." She pointed over to the veiled throne, from which the growling continued.

"Should we be talking about him like this?" Rez asked.

"Oh, he's sleeping" the girl said. "He's just a very loud snorer."

"Ah" Rez said expectedly, "yeah my old captain's like that too."

"So he's a user, eh?" Zan noted. He started up his own power and phased straight through the ropes and hit the ground in front of the young woman he loomed over like a real demon. Then, taking the initiative, he drew out a blade and brought it to the girl's slender neck.

"Okay" Zan calmly started, "now I demand to speak with your captain!" The pirates all reeled and came to attention as their captain continued to snore. Zan went to the effort of getting Rez down himself by tossing his extra knife into the ropes that bound him. Rez crashed to the tough dirt headfirst and growled obscenities.

"We need to go over the chain of command again" Rez demanded weakly, face in the dirt.

"Whatever" Zan snidely remarked.

* * *

_The Support Arts Pt.2: Geppou_ Bard read.

_Geppou is based on the principals of Soru, using speed and the power of one's legs. Effective training in Geppou requires massive weight lifting concentrated on the calves and quads. The effect of Geppou is essentially a straight Soru that propels the user through the air. Being strong enough to literally kick off the air is the essence of the training. Starting from low to the ground, work from slowing the falling speed to stopping, then to reversing the speed and jumping while falling. Jumping in different directions is easier than jumping straight up. Using Geppou for extended periods can be exhausting to anyone who hasn't under gone Eiei-ibuki training._

_Eiei-ibuki? _Bard questioned. He probed his mind for a translation that made sense, but Endless Breath was all he came up with. _Meh. Who knows..._

"Whither be this heretical pirate!?" a tyrannical voice bellowed. Whatever conscious remnants of the militia that remained started to flee with great haste towards the village to quarter more houses. The Paladins marched from the castle grounds with mighty shields and hammers equipped. The tallest one, the captain of the guard, marched in front. Bard looked over his shoulder, closed his book, and stood up while stowing it back in his inner chest pocket.

"Yo!" Bard greeted. "Or, since I'm a pirate, Yo-HO!" The armored force stopped and stood their ground, weapons all ready. At least twenty muscular, or otherwise meaty looking men, were armed to the bone with shimmering, golden and pearly white armor. Their hammers, shiny metallic blue, were wrapped around the blunt end with shimmering pieces of paper. The glyphs on the paper seemed to stick out and pierce through the air around them with a sort of magical power.

"Pirate outlander" the tall captain began, "I am Arthir Blightsmiter, the leader of the Argent Fist!"

"Kay" Bard replied.

"We have been summoned" he continued "out of the welfare of the citizens of our Great King Rupert to vanquish you!"

"Kay" Bard said again. Arthir began to grind his teeth as his mighty jaw moved to and fro in anger.

"Prepare thyself" he said "for we, the holiest of knights in all the land, the Argent Fist, will fight you without mercy."

"Kay" Bard said one last time. Without changing his expecting, apathetic expression, he turned and got into position. Facing so many opponents with the intention to fight him as a fleet, Bard opted to empower his legs for rapid Rankyaku firing. His legs were spread far apart, so much that he had to stand on the edges of his feet. His arms were up and pulling at his back, ready to twist and kick at any time. His head was also kept totally relaxed, looking at his enemies from the side beyond his shoulder.

"What foreign strangeness be this?" a soldier asked.

"It matters not" Arthir said sternly. "Three-fold, ho!" At his coded command, three random soldiers charged at Bard with weapons overhead. Bard's brow slowly furrowed and his mouth quickly grinned.


	50. The Ghost Killer Pirates Awaken

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Three men charged, and so three men fell.

"**RANKYAAAAKU!**" and then with a sweep of his leg, Bard threw them all away. Leg still in the air, Bard took a martial art stand with arms keeping his balance and leg armed like a sword in front.

"What brutish verve" Arthir noted. "Two-fold, entwine him with righteousness!"

"Yes sire!" two soldiers shouted. They charged ahead and split apart, taking Bard from the front and back.

"Flanking me, eh?" Bard noted. "Weak strategy, but effective. I can deal with it." With his log-thick leg tightly wound, he quickly set it horizontal to the ground and kicked it out, letting his foot guide the leg. One tremendous blow to the armored chest that sent the solder away. Then, using his arms, he spun around and let his leg carry into the next kick with a roar. The other soldier went soaring over the ground, stopped by the wooden battlements around the barracks.

"Yo-HO!" Bard shouted, playing into his pirate bit more than necessary. He kicked up his leg to be vertically guarding his body and his face full of fighting spirit. The men were intimidated. Their ranks were cut down by five in less than an instant.

"A seasoned brawler" Arthir observed. "How exciting. I shall commend thee for besting those troops that have fought. I dare say, I may be doning a sort of respect for thee, knave."

"Eh?" Bard grunted. "Speak normal."

"I am!" Arthir shouted. "Forget the pleasantries. We shall make a hasty deal of thee. Manowat! Lancelish! F'ward!"

"Yes , sire!" two men called. Out from the back ranks stepped two heavily armored, battle-beaten men with shaved heads. Manowat had a psychotic crease of anger between his eyes from a constant state of anger. Lancelish was a dark-skinned man with a very relaxed look, his brows slanting up like a sad man's. Both men carried their maces, Manowat's stained with crusted blood and covered in spikes, Lancelish's dutifully cleaned and cube shaped with a perfect shine.

"How tiresome" Manowat growled. "Why must I always fight with thee?"

"Ask me not" Lancelish said. "'Tis the captain's orders. Now, how shalt we deal with this one?"

"Worry not" Manowat growled. "He shall fall by my hammer of Black Dawn before thy manicure is tarnished. Heh." Lancelish blinked at his fellow soldier, then shameful his his nails. Manowat, a big enough man to stare down even at Bard, stomped forward and let his heavy weapon crash through the rocky ground. "How there, knave!" he snarled.

"...How what?" Bard asked.

"'Tis a greeting of ours" Manowat explained. "Say thy name so thy tombstone reads the proper marking."

"...uhhh...Bard D. Samekawa?" Bard said, assuming he asked for his name. "Anyway, are we gonna fight?"

"Indeed" said Manowat, smiling still with his furrowed brow. "But first..." He ran a hand across the magic parchment on the upper handle of his mace and the marks started shining a damp, green light. "Heavenly Fog, pour forth for thy master!" Suddenly, from the paper, a stream of cloudy smoke came out. Bard jumped back and settled on both feet, covering his mouth in case the cloud was toxic.

"What in hell!?" Bard shouted.

"'Tis no such witch-craft!" Manowat sneered through the fog that his him. "This be my heavenly power, the ability to mandate the clouding mist and strike ye down within! Thou shalt ne'er see the sun again!"

_He can make a green fog at will? _Bard repeated to himself. _Is he a fruit user?_ Bard's instincts flared up. He could sense the air moving to his side with danger!

* * *

"Ggggg...." growled the captain in the forest. Zan had urged the crew to take notice of his intentions by taking his hostage with blade close to her throat and proceeded to stoke the bonfire and bring up some light. The captain was an average looking man, considering he had some kind of power. Very lethargic, drooping eyes on a soot-blackened but pale face. His short, stubble beard shined oddly in the light. He was dressed in a myriad of faded robes, clothes and even some parchments as his royal garb.

"Umm..." the hostage girl softly started. "Captain Ramone? Can you wake up now...please?" Nothing happened, and the captain continued to snore.

"Ramone Cervantes?" Zan asked. "I thought he died when he was captured."

"No, he's alive" she stated. "He's just very sleepy because he was up all night scheming."

"Scheming?" Rez repeated.

"Yes" the girl said, bringing her hands up and rapping her fingers together villainously. "Scheming. That's how he says it."

"How helpful" Rez said. "I'mma wake him up myself. I hope he likes guns going off in his ear."

"No, don't!" the girl pleaded. "We never really know when hes awake or sleeping. He growls like that all the time."

"Really?" Zan asked.

"Yeah" she said. "We've all got some kind of sinus problem...this swamp's a terrible place to live in."

"Just poke him a bit, Rez" Zan called. "He'll wake up if he's a real pirate."

"Sure he will" Rez sneered. He picked up a stick and started prodding the veil and the man behind it. "Hey guy, wake up! We're here to mess you up, so show some respect." On his umpteenth poking, a slight buzzing was heard. Rez looked around to see what was making the noise, but a creeped-out looked crossed his face. He looked down at the stick and saw no stick, just a long, wood-colored millipede. Rez pitched the bug and grimaced. Then, a strong hand blasted out from the veil, grabbed Rez's face and threw his toward the fire. Zan stopped him with his leg, although he only got hooked and began tumbling, stopping just short of the fire.

"So you're awake now?" Zan asked. Ramone stood up, his rags falling off like dust. The buzzing grew louder as he walked into the open, and a multitude of flies crowded above him like a halo.

"Unnnh...?" he lazily groaned. "What the hell? Coleen, why's 'at guy holdin' you? You hook up with 'im?"

"No no!" Coleen, as her name seemed to be, demanded. "He's holding me hostage to talk to you."

"Oh" Ramone curiously groaned. "That's too bad."

"Please help me!" Coleen pleaded. Zan pulled her in and Rez got up with his gunblades armed.

"You're not to keen on talking, are you?" Zan said. "I heard some wicked stories about you. You're one of the only people in the world...in history to escape from Impel Down."

"Yeah" Ramone said, showing the side of his face and letting more rags fall off him, "but that was a fluke. I got my power inside Down, so I can't do a repeat performance, 'lright?"

"I'm not asking that, 'Ghost Man'" Zan said, adding particular emphasis to the moniker that Ramone seemed to seethe over. The mystery captain lurched forward, letting the last rags fall and expose his own tattered tunic, raised up a hand and, with one clench the buzzing in the air stopped.

"Interesting" Rez said. "I take it that's part of your ability?"

"Yup" Ramone lazily admitted. "So, which of you's the cap'n? What's your crew...?"

"Our captain isn't present fro this hostage taking" Zan said. "By the way, you can have her back. I just wanted to wake you up." Zan threw the girl at Ramone, thinking he'd catch her, but she bounced off his chest and fell to the ground. "We're here with the recently reformed Buster Pirates under captain Bard D. Samekawa."

"Buster Pirates?" Ramone repeated, taking a silent second to ponder over his thoughts. "I know those guys..."

* * *

"Come on, men!" Araly commanded from base camp. "Work those backs!"

"You heard her!" the strongest man said. "Work that ass!"

"That's not what I said!" Araly roared back. The latest expedition to climb the cliff and create a high-altitude camp to build a lift at was in progress. With a higher vantage point and an extra base with a lift system from the ground to the edge of the plateau, the Buster Pirates could relocate to the castle and immediately storm it, just like pirates would.

"It's going well" Marco admitted. "Honestly, I'm surprised you could get those guys organized at all."

"It's all in the voice" Araly said, "and I've got a strong one. Anyway, based on my speculation, the castle should be up there at the northern end of the plateau."

"What if it's not?" Marco asked.

"Then I'm wrong" she said "and we look somewhere else."

"Don't you think it's a bit irresponsible?" another pirate pointed out. "Sending up some grunts to do the captain's job? They'll get slaughtered if they have any defense up there."

"They'll be fine" Araly said. "They don't want to get saved constantly by Bard or Rez. They have to learn to stand on their own two feet." Unfortunately, she left her Den Den Bullhorn on, and the men regarded her analogy as a command. The strongest, although dimmest, pirates lodged their climbing picks firmly into the rock and started scaling on two feet, step by step.

"They're idiots" Marco mused, watching them climb.

"Well, that's good, right?" Araly asked. "Idiots make for great soldiers!"

"Says who?" Marco asked. "Anyway, why don't you take a break? Let me give them orders for a while at least. You've been toiling since we landed."

"I don't want to be lazy" Araly said. "If I'm on land and I'm not vomiting constantly, I'll do whatever I can to help."

"Fair enough" Marco sighed. "Looks like the adventurers need more delegation." Araly blinked at Marco, then turned to the cliff face. Most of the were dangling helplessly, trying to plant both feet and climb, while others had already fallen a good distance. Araly sighed and pushed on her Bullhorn.

"Come on, you scalawags!" Araly shouted, getting into what she thought was a pirate spirit. "Work those picks!" The climbing pirates exchanged some troubled glances.

"You heard her" one of them shouted. "Work those hips!"

"No, no" another began. "She said d-"

"ALL OF YOU" Araly roared, "SHUT IT AND CLIMB!!!"

"Yes ma'am!!" They fearfully shouted back. They stopped fooling around and started climbing the face like crabs along a beach.

"That's better" Araly sighed. "It's gonna be a long stay, isn't it?" Marco just chuckled at her swayed enthusiasm and watched his comrades scale the rocky cliff.


	51. King Rupert Lioncrest

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"Take this!" Manowat screamed. He came breaking through the cloud with his mace held up high, aiming at Bard.

_I don't really trust my Tekkai to protect me yet_ Bard thought. _Better just leave._

"Soru!" and Bard was away as the mace came swinging down and crashing into the stone ground. The smoke cloud had a small opening in it and a long trail leading up to the roof of one of the housing barracks. There Bard loomed over the awning of the building like a gargoyle.

"Get you down from thither!" Manowat roared.

"Screw you!" Bard shouted back. He made a jump into the air and held his hands up in front of his face, parallel with each other and flexing his arm muscles. "Rankyaku!" and now he started violently kicking through the air at Manowat. Razor blades of invisible air started cutting into the ground. Manowat brought his fiendish mace up to block the attack. The blades arced away from his tarnished and tattered metal weapon and tore up the ground all around him.

"Fool!" Manowat shouted. "This great hammer of mine was crafted by the most educated weapon smith in all the world! It came to my hands with all its cracks and crevices, as they allow it to sail through the air with no resistance! Your demonic technique of cutting the wind has no effect on me!"

"Crap!" Bard said, still kicking up a storm. Suddenly the wind picked up from the north. Bard's fighting genius started clicking the gears in his head rapidly. He let himself fall, but not without a short hop before reaching the ground. Even without knowing it, his Geppou stopped his feet from a devastating impact. Bard took his wide legged, sprinting-tackle position with one arm straight and far back with the other flexed before him.

"A frontal assault now?" Manowat eagerly seethed. "What fortune! Without knowing it, thy life shall be a true mark of honor for mine righteous weapon! You shall be the thousandth knave to fall before me, Pirate-man Bard!"

"Don't count your chickens, dude" Bard said slyly. He disappeared. The smoke trail that clinged to him even now was stretched all over the grounds until it dissipated completely. Now Bard rushed around invisibly, taking long steps in Soru before stopping short of his own battlefield boundaries. Manowat grinned menacingly as his head darted around, trying to track the light-speed dash of Bard in vain.

"How now?" Lancelish called from the sidelines. "Art thou lost in thy own fight, Manowat?"

"Hn!" Manowat grunted happily. "Nay! Tis but the beginning of this great battle!"

"Really?" Bard's voice said from impossible angles. "I'm pretty sure we're just about done!"

"So sayeth thou!" Manowat screamed. He started maniacally swinging his mace around like a mad man in all directions. "Take this! **Black Sunrise**!!!"

"So you can swing it fast" Bard said, "big deal. My legs are much faster!" From the north, Bard made his last dash. He only used his one leg to kick, giving him a phantasmal, blurred appearance as he shot forth. His right leg was out in front, and he tucked it back so the knee was at his chest. "Rankyaku:" Bard started. With the wind at his back and the mace in a chaotic motion, Bard's chance revealed itself. The cloth frock of Manowat's leggings at his crotch billowed slightly in the wind. "**Spear!!!**" Bard's right leg kicked out, his whole body laid straight, and he trusted his flying kick to be delivered in the right place.

"Futile!" Manowat screamed. His mace continued to swing about, creating a sort of vacuum where it didn't slice the air. That spiraling patch of empty air is what the blue wave of Rankyaku sailed into, curving up from his groin and following the wind straight into his solar plexus. Manowat's eyes went white and his mace stopped.

"Finisher!" Bard shouted. He took a Soru-step and s tarted spinning through the air quicker than one could follow with both legs out. "Tekkai!" Bard shouted. His whole body now like iron and spinning with tornado velocity at Manowat's startled face, the fight was over! "**Mountain Crashing Hurricane KICK!!!**" And so Manowat lost his thousandth prey, along with more than half his teeth with one gigantic attack!

Bard hit the ground a few ten meters behind his target who just now finished rolling across the ground. It looked like the hubris of Bard's own ability had gotten the better of and he was walking slowly away, bearing his huge muscles as a sort of silent growl to those behind him. Then, he started turning back around...then he walked to either side and dizzily fell to this back.

"Oh crap" Bard said. "I'm gonna vomit..." The Paladins stared at him with a mix of awe and terror. He had walked away scatheless form a fight with their most brutal and horrific fighter and all he could do was dance drunkenly form his spinning attack and puke in the bushes.

* * *

In the castle on the island, word was finally reaching the nobles and aristocrats of the penniless isle about the invasion and fighting at the militia barracks. A young man of brittle frame went running through the hallowed and hollow halls of the magnificent castle. The walls themselves looked old but well kept. The floors were swept umpteen times daily, although the heavier prints still remained in the cobblestone floors. The rugs and carpets had frayed edges and tattered sides with the odd rip from someone running far to fast at once.

The young messenger man continued to break through the halls to the central throne chamber with the most dire message for his king. The family emblem of the isle's ruler was plastered and embroidered on every applicable piece of cloth and silk in the main hall. Even the walls had a carven image of the likeness of two lion heads facing away from each other as a shield with a shining sun at the center. Completely out of breath the young messenger stopped just short of the king's royal red carpet.

"Who may dare to intrude upon our king!?" a royal guard shouted.

"I..." the messenger started, unable to continue past his deep breaths.

"Be gone, ye!" The guard shouted, getting his spear ready. A meaty hand reached up and stopped him by the shoulder.

"That shall be enough" a booming, elder voice said. "Allow him to take his time."

"My king..." the boy started desperately. "Fighting...barracks...Argent Hand and...PIRATES!!!" Then his body fell down onto the carpet. "I apologize for my hasty report, but I can't seem to breath at the moment."

"Quite alright!" the regal voice boomed. "Guards, please take this young man to the infirmary and see that he gets his breath back before continuing with his report."

"Yes, your highness" the guards said. They went over, scooped up the man's breathless body, and went off through the castle.

"Ah, youth" mused the great, bearded king in his throne. "What a devilish charm we have here! Mohohohoho!" Such sat King Rupert of the Lioncrest family. Rulers of the island for over three hundred years! He was a big man in mirth and girth. His belly was well hidden under the red and purple robes lined with lynx fur. His lower half was garbed in royal plate mail lines with still more fur. Such a hearty man as he should have a thinner frame from all this fur, one would think, but his rosy cheeks and aged smile said different. He looked like a quite jolly man for a tyrant.

"Maid!" he called to one of the waiting women in his room. "Could you please got and fetch Gretta for me? I wish her and I to have a talk about these pirates."

"As you wish, my lord" she responded. She went dashing off for the sky-high tower where said princess stayed. A quarter-hour later, she breathlessly reached the top. From within the gilded door to the spacious and lavish bedroom of the princess the careful strumming of a harp was heard. The waiting woman rapped lightly on the door and waited for a response. "My lady...the king required thy presence." The harping stopped and the door was opened.

"What is it?" Gretta asked. She was the princess, with her white hair in a rose-like bun and her pale skin wrapped neatly in gorgeous lace and silk. Her piercing, unamused eyes were bloody red, and they stared at the girl who approached her with a seething sort of impatience. "Make it quick, will you? I have asked already for utter peace whilst I practice."

"The king" she repeated, "requests thy presence."

"Hmmnn..." Gretta sighed. "Very well. I shall be down tomorrow."

"No, right now" the lady said.

"...fine" Gretta growled. She walked over to the bronze railing of the spiral stair case so many stories high, sat on it, and started sliding down.

"My lady, wait for me!" the waiting woman called. She started running down the stairs after the princess who sped on down with perfect balance.

_I certainly hope you are well_ she said in a mental letter, _Mr. Demon..._In the clearing of the Ghost Killers, Rez and Zan were forgiven do to their standing among the ranks of their pirate brethren. Zan was an accomplished enough man for even exiles to hear of him and Rez's hands of light-speed drawing were known by any man who seriously wielded a gun. Through it all, however, the captain continued to be unamused and apathetic to his crew's apparent condition. He paced through the clearing with hands in tattered pants pockets, as if he was looking for something he dropped ages ago.

* * *

"Hey, Ramone!" Rez called. "What're you guys still doing here? Get on a ship an leave!"

"Gggg..." Ramone groaned. "There ain't any ships that come here. This is a desert island as far as the World Gov't knows."

"What?" Zan said. "But they have a flag!"

"That's a fail-safe, I guess" Ramone said. "In case the actual Marines come across this island they won't attack it out of respect to their flag. I heard that there hasn't been any outside contact here for over a century."

"That's messed up" Rez added.

"Well, we have a ship" Zan said. "It's kinda stuck right now, but we're working on getting it back out onto open water while we're here."

"You won't have a ship for long" Ramone pointed out. "The swamp waters around here are nefariously known for the high salt content. Soon the wood from your hull will get dried out and washed away by the one-two hit of the waters. No ship can survive docked at this island for more than a few days unless you dock right at the village's edge. Of course, then you have completely different problems to deal with."

"What kind of village is it?" Rez asked.

"We'll tell you this, duelist" one of the pirates said, "you've got them technologically beat by about a hundred years with what you're carryin' right now."

"Wow" Rez said. "So they're about the same as anywhere else?" he asked, showing his greatest pride as obnoxious hubris.

"Ghost Killers!" Ramone shouted, donning his captain coat and studded leather leggings. "Suit the hell up. We've got to move. Now that our position has been compromised and more pirates are here, we're initiating our original plan."

"What plan is that?" Rez asked. Even Ramone's crew looked about curiously.

"That flag on their castle" Ramone started, turning with wide glaring eyes, "we're gonna burn it down!"

"What!?" Zan shouted. "Just out of spite, you're declaring war on the World Government?"

"This isn't just spontaneous rage" Ramone said. "This is years of pent up hatred. Besides, it's my business anyway, so just butt out of it."

"Captain Cervantes" the girl shyly spoke up again. "Please, none of us are in any shape to help you right now. Most of us are dying!"

"Then stay here" Ramone shouted. "Like I need sick guys dragging me down..." Rez started seething at the cruelty he showed his crew, but Zan recognized the reverse psychology method. Either he wanted his crew to pick up and start fighting with him on their own, or his humanity was actually showing in his concern for the health of his men. Zan kept his answer on their first choice, as this didn't seem to be the man who had humanity within him.

"Like it or not" Rez said, "I'm joining you." Ramone, Zan and the present crew all looked strangely at him. "My captain's currently doing something stupid in that village, and I have to stop him from overdoing it. It's my duty as the first-mate to help out!"

"Then..." Coleen started, "I'll go as well!" Ramone looked back at her and shrugged.

"It's your life, kid" he said. "You wanna risk it with me, go on ahead. The rest of ya, hold the fort if you ain't coming." Zan watched the girl jog after her captain faithfully, and then he awed at the legion of men that started following after him and Rez. Only the ones who truly couldn't move stayed behind.

"I guess I'll go too" Zan said. "No reason an assassin can't fight a ground war..." So the heretics and demons started marching through the swamp toward the village, a self-righteous trek to commit an unwinnable war!


	52. The Heretic March pt 1

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"Now it falls upon me" Lancelish prosed. He stepped forth with his radiant hammer as Bard shook off the last of his debilitating dizziness. Manowat was dragged from the battlefield as his partner stepped forth. Not as menacing as the former fighter, Lancelish carried himself with great honor and humility. He stood at Bard's height and mass, in addition to the armor and weapon he carried, making him a much more equal enemy for Bard to fight. "For give me, kind knave, but I must vanquish thee."

"Ah, no prob!" Bard happily said. "Lots of people seem to want to vanquish me lately. I'm used to it!"

"Verily" Lancelish said. "I shall introduce thee, to mine hammer, the Cloud-Splitter!" He held up his pearly hammer, upon which was plastered one of the emerald-green runes that crackled and glowed brilliantly.

"Nice name" Bard said. "What's it do?"

"Once our fight commences" Lancelish said, "I shall show thee."

"Sir Lancelish!" Arthir called. "Your king, the great Rupert, shall be the first to hear of thy failure should this rapscalious one do thee in! Do not disappoint thy great provider and king, do not lose!"

"I shan't!" Lancelish called back. "Tell me, captain, may I commence the fight now?"

"Do as you wish" Arthir said.

"Prepare thyself, sir Bard" Lancelish warned. He started raising his mighty hammer up high over his head with a kind and honest warrior's face. Bard did prepare, taking a step back so he could easily make a striking kick upwards.

_I'll catch his hammer with my foot!_ Bard planned. _If I use Rankyaku too, I might be able to deflect or break his hammer completely!_

"**Descending Angel Swing!**" Lancelish called. The hammer started shining with some arcane power that emanated from the paper. Bard ignored it and spun around, taking a step forward and kicking straight up with great force.

"Rankyak-AKAKAKAKAKAKAKA!!!" Upon the impact of Bard's foot to the hammer, a stream of blazing electricity came crackling through Bard's whole body. He was stunned and continued stuttering in pain.

"This is my power!" Lancelish said. "To call forth the holy vengeful power of the very heavens!" Lancelish, instead of following through with his attack, raised his hammer up carefully and drew it back down to his side.

Bard went stumbling back a few steps, then fell down to his knees and coughed up smoke. "Holy hell!" Bard rasped. "My insides feel like they're on fire!" Lancelish came stomping forward, his hammer held in a thrust-like position. Bard stood up, ready to defend, and waited for his opponent to attack.

_I'll jump over him! _Bard planned.

"**Charging Angel Thrust!**" Lancelish called. He shot out his hammer, which Bard flipped over. Now in the air, Bard readied his leg to swing down with cutting force, heel first.

"Raaaan..." Bard began.

"**Guardian Smash!**" Lancelish interrupted. He used his massive muscles and leaned his whole body back while keeping his arms strong and steady. In place of his head and neck his hammer now lingered, which Bard again hit and exploded off of from the electric force. Bard went accidentally cartwheeling backwards until his body became limp again and he coughed up more smoke and blood on the ground. "I apologize for thy discomfort, but it is my righteous duty to end thy rampage before it doth begin."

"Grr..." Bard growled. "This is getting annoying. The only thing I can do now is dodge!" Lancelish, still cunningly kind and earnest looking, did not waste a moment. He rushed up to Bard, keeping his hammer up high and gripped hard with both hands. "Soru!" Bard shouted. With a puff of smoke, he disappeared. Lancelish stopped running and looked around with concern for his enemy.

"His magic is surely great" Lancelish praised, "but my divine mandated power shall triumph. His power only allows him to run away and exhausts him!"

"Lancelish!" Arthir shouted from the back ranks. "do not let down thy guard! His demon powers allow him to travel with great speed! He is not evading you at all!"

"**Soru TACKLE!!!**" Bard roared. With a Tekkai shoulder extended, he smashed into Lancelish's armored gut. The force of metal on metal-muscle was the equivalent of a hard punch to the knight, who staggered back and felt at his wound. The armor he wore was bent inwards and dug far enough to keep him from properly breathing. "Don't get to comfy" Bard said, now back in his vanishing act of Soru. "I'm still not done with you!"

"Whither hath thou gone?" Lancelish asked. He reached for his hammer, gripped tight the handle and felt a punch connect on his arm, loosening his grip. Three more punches and kicks ran up his leg, forcing him off balance. A solid kick to the neck stopped his breathing and released his grip, then bard knew he was safe.

"UUUOOOOAAAHHHH!!!" Roared the fightaholic Bard. He stole the hammer from mid-air and swung it in a circle, right into Lancelish's dented gut. The surge of electricity blazed through Lancelish's body and smoke bellowed out from his open mouth. At last, the paper's magic was spent, and a last blast of power sent Lancelish flying into the line of his brethren behind him. The only one not to get hit by the flying knight's body was his captain, the mighty Arthir, who rolled cowardly out of the way at the last second.

"What terrible power!" Arthir shivered. Bard stood tall, ignoring the pain with the sun at his back and storm clouds rolling over his head. He smashed his fists together and summoned up thunder in the distance, his glowing eyes shining through the traveling darkness that now engulfed the land.

* * *

"Oh, gracious!" Emily exclaimed. "What has happened?"

"Never you mind, woman" the quartered guard snapped. "Bring us more bread!"

"I tell you, kind guard, we have no more bread" Emily apologized. The guards who had been injured during the mystery pirate's initial rampage quartered themselves in every house they could get to. Emily and Jed were taking care of their gracious guests as they took the bedrooms, sitting room and kitchen, demanding food and drink constantly.

"No bread!?" the guard bellowed. "What kind of whelp are ye? Go make some!"

"I cannot" Emily said. "The baker in town is the only one in the village who makes the bread. Even so, I cannot afford it."

"But surely you can find some other food, sister!" Jed said. "These good men must recover for our great king!"

"Oh, I shall look" Emily said, dashing off to the pantry and storage room and every place she could find where food would be stored. She found nothing but sacks of dried flour and a container of what used to be milk.

"I'm sure she shall find you something" Jed told the hungry guards.

"She had better" one guard said.

"Although" another started, "I wouldn't mind having _her_ for dinner. Heh heh..." A disgusting lecherousness in his voice made Jed shiver with hate but forced and honest, equally lecherous chuckle out of the others.

"I don't know" another guard called from a joining room. "I think I prefer a girl with more meat on her bones. That girl looked a tad skinny to me."

"Aye" another agreed. "What do you feed that woman, flour?" Jed faced away from the guards, lest they see his glaring fangs and crazy eyes. He wished hard for Bard to return and teach these ungrateful mongrels a lesson, but kept his mouth tightly shut and retrieved some soaked towels wordlessly for the guards.

"Militia-men!" a random, scared voice form outside called to the streets. "The village is under attack from the bay! The demons have returned!!!" The desperate, frantic nature of the call gave a sharp ringing in the guards' ears.

"Demons?" Jed fearfully repeated. The guards started cowering with their weapons held close.

"Demons!?" another guard shouted. "Are you kidding me!? First that pirate attacks, now the demons are coming!? Why now!?!?"

"Pirate?" Jed repeated. He forgot his fear of demons as his raging hate of pirates overcame him. The visions of his loved ones dying from the pirates that invaded long ago came flooding into his mind. Suddenly, he didn't care about king and country. A pirate was in his town and he would destroy that vicious being with whatever force his body would muster. So he grabbed a kitchen knife and rushed out the back door as his sister came in through the basement storage door.

"I apologize" Emily said. "We have no more food at all. The basement is completely bare."

"That's good!" a guard called. "That means we can hide down there!" The rest shouted their agreement and rushed for the door.

* * *

The villagers all went running in a fervent panic, a scene of total chaos to the incoming eye. Enter Ramone from the forest where a villager spotted him as she washed her clothes in the stream. The clothes stayed in that stream when he passed by with the following, haggard warriors. Rez and Zan stayed up at the front flanks with the captain as his crew stood readily behind.

"Gggg..." Ramone groaned. "These people're noisy. Coleen, make 'em shudup."

"Yes sir" Coleen replied. She advanced from the flank, took down her cowl hood and stared down the village outskirts. As she raised her arm, a violent amount of clicking came from under her robes. A metallic series of springs and gears kept clanking on as her tattered outer vestments were blown off and away. Her diseased, boiled arm held up a still self-assembling construct that wrapped and bound itself to her healthy, well defined arm.

"What's that?" Rez asked.

"Coleen's a smart girl" Ramone explained. "She's our ship's top mechanic...back when we had a ship. That's her automatic arm cannon. It fires compressed, heated air that can destroy a stone wall if it needs to. She calls it the 'Hellcat Special'."

"Hellcat!?" Rez said with outrage. "That's way too close to my sword's name!"

"Who cares...?" Ramone lowed. In front, Coleen's sleek, slender and trimmed physique was exposed beneath the fishnet stockings and tight racing-stripped shorts. Her leathery corset top and wheat-colored skin blended it with the spiraling mechanics that were entwined around her midsection, upper hip and completely formed around her right arm.

"**Hellcat Special: Burning Bullet!**" With a booming roar and explosive blast, a house was fallen to rubble. Next to that house ,the shrapnel of the first tore apart the nest. The pattern continued and many houses were destroyed from the single attack. However, strong though she seemed, Coleen was now winded and panted on her knees while she held the steaming mechanics of the cannon.

"Those aren't boils from disease" Zan pointed out as he watched her clutch the steaming-hot braces, "those are burns."

"It's her body" Ramone said as he steadily advanced. "She can do what she wants with it. 'S not my concern..." The coldness of Ramone seemed to topple the apparent coldness of assassin Zan. His utter disregard for his crew's well being, especially that of a girl so deeply loyal, made Zan a little sick.

"That bastard" Rez said. "How dare he treat his crew like that?" His outrage reflected Zan's internal thoughts almost exactly.

"Don't be a fool!" one of the sickly men behind them said. "Captain Cervantes is one of the most daring and powerful pirates alive! The reason he was sent to the Gaol, Impel Down, was because of us! If he hadn't sacrificed himself we never would have survived what happened to us!"

"Ah" Zan said. "That familiar swan-song, eh?"

"Please" Coleen pleaded, "don't mock the captain." She finally pulled her hand from the hot metal, and Rez and Zan watched the skin stick and snap apart from the searing metal it had clung to for support. "Even though he risked his life for us back then, we never thanked him for it. He always cared about us, but he came out a very changed man. We have to respect him now, because we never thought we'd see him alive again..."

"So you forgot about him" Zan assumed. "You all moved on without him, and when he came back, you felt guilty..." Coleen just hunger her head and stood back up. The crewman became equally shameful as well, looking away from the truth that Zan spout.

"What a rotten reason for loyalty" Rez said. "What'd he do with the ones that didn't follow him again?" More silence, only this time it was less dramatic and more projected towards him as an answer. Even Zan quietly shuffled away from Rez in response. "What!? He killed them? That's cruel!"

"Captain!" Coleen shouted suddenly. Rez and Zan looked over quickly, seeing a whole horde of quickly assembled, partially armored guards with spears that stood in a wide circle around Ramone.

"Come quietly to the gallows, you!" one guard shouted to him. Ramone didn't acknowledge any of them, only the dirt at his feet.

"Well demon?" another spat. "What say ye? Will you lay down thy weapons and come to die with honor, or shall we skewer you alive right he..." and that guard stopped talking. His crooked smile and bulbous nose were frozen in the cocky smile he had as he talked, but his eyes screeched with pain and terror. From the guard's stomach extended a greatly serrated, moving rod of some kind that came forth from Ramone's arm. The mystery thing retreated into Ramone's sleeve jacket and his hand came wiggling back out all the same. The guard dropped down to the ground where a pool of blood was building. Ramone raised up his arm, the other in his pocket, and lowed his groaning sigh.

"**Gggg**...weaklings..." The original Heretic begins his march!


	53. The Heretic March pt 2

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"What was that!?" the guards shouted. Ramone stood in the open street, stagnant swamp air radiating from him like unholy light. Rez and Zan decided to flank around, as they couldn't see any rampant and random destruction in the area that they could attribute to Bard.

"Is he dead!?" another yelled in reference to the fallen man. With one attack, and without moving from that one attack, Ramone downed a guard single handedly. Now he started walking forward in great, stomping strides. His crew started following far behind with Coleen at the front. Her cannon was ready to aim and fire again, although her skin still sizzled from where she gripped the metal.

"Captain..." she cooed almost silently.

"Hey!" Ramone shouted. "Any o' you carps wanna go!? I'm ready. I've been waitin' for this for a god-damn year!"

"Did he just call us carps?" a guard asked.

"Don't go out there" another warned. "That demon has horrific powers!" The guards who came out and witnessed his demonstration all retreated to the side of the street."

"You fools!" Shouted a gallant voice. "It is only one man! I see that I shall have to take him on myself!" And so that callous man stepped out into the open street and squared up against Ramone. He was ugly as sin, with a largely distended upper lip that looked like a beak, a button nose and squinting, rat-like eyes. His body wasn't very good either, as his hips exploded out in some odd ball to produce skinny, stick legs. His arms were as thick as his bones at the end, but his hands were surprisingly meaty.

"Damn" Ramone said. "They sure make you guys ugly!"

"Silence!" his surprisingly masculine voice boomed. He took up his spear and started twirling it effortlessly between his fingers. The muscular digits held the strength of biceps. The spear was longer than the man's strange body, making the feat all the more impressive. Ramone wasn't impressed. "I shall fell ye! Scandalous knave, prepare thyself for a torrent of lashing from my whipping spear, Spear Whip!" Ramone held up his arm and aimed with an open palm.

"You're boring" Ramone said. A loud buzzing came from around him, such buzzing that even Rez and Zan heard it behind one of the ruined houses.

"What's that?" Rez asked.

"His ability?" Zan assumed. With his hand stretched out, Ramone closed his eyes and started quietly chanting. The ugly soldier twirled his spear faster and faster until it bent from the circular force.

"Captain!" Coleen shouted. "Watch out!" However, Ramone did not heed her warning, and let the spear crash violently into his neck. He didn't budge, but shrapnel flew off from his neck. The guard stared fearfully at the cracked and gaping wound he made. It was such a hole in his body that the inside of his seemingly hollow back could be seen. From the edges of that hole came a thick, pale goo that seeped down and over the spear.

"What's this?" the guard asked, yanking with all his collective strength. His spear refused to dislodge. "What strangeness be this. Demon!?" The buzzing grew louder still, and started coming stronger near his arm. That's when Rez noticed the bugs crawling all over him. While the guard was distracted with his spear, insects of all kinds emerged from Ramone's body.

"You're kidding" Rez said. "He's a freaking human hive!?"

"Seems so" Zan said. "Anyway, let's keep going. He can handle this easily."

"You sure?" Rez shouted, now that the buzzing had gotten annoyingly loud. He looked back one more time, watched the ugly guard get absorbed by the bugs, then turned tail and ran.

"You're obnoxious" Ramone growled. With his hand he commanded the swarm of bugs to press inward, and with the twitch of his fingers he commanded them to bite. When the bugs eventually flew off and back through the hole in Ramone's neck, the guard was covered in a spectrum of colorful bug bites.

"Captain!" Coleen called as she ran up. "Those two Buster pirates have gone!"

"Good" Ramone said. "More for me. They can go kill 'emselves for all I care..."

"But they could get their captain to rally against us!" she warned. "We can't trust them so easily. One of them took me hostage!"

"Well, go follow them then" Ramone grunted. "Damn, woman, just do what you want already. I have my own thing to do here."

"Yes sir" she sounded off.

"You men!" Ramone shouted to his horde of crewmen behind. "Go into the houses and get the guards out here. I don't want to leave a single one unbitten!"

"Yes sir!" They all roared, although the thought passed through each of them that he could bite them all from where he stood.

"Ggggg...." Ramone growled. "It's gonna be a good day" he said with a scowl and clenched jaw.

* * *

Finally, elsewhere on the royal plateau, the Buster Pirates proper had finally gotten their rig set up. The first order of business: transport the supplies for a discrete base camp. The next step, which they were currently taking to task: transport interim-captain Araly and moral support Maxwell from the ship. The pulley Araly had designed and help construct was working perfectly, as smooth as an elevator. The platform was large enough for at least twenty people to ascend at once, but the strength of the ropes would only allow up to ten of the burly, spirited pirates. The whole rig worked on the pulling power of the stronger pirates, who tugged with the ropes over their backs through the wooded area.

"PULL!" the rig leader commanded.

"Maybe we can keep this" one of the puller suggested "as a training regimen!"

"What good will this do us!?" a less enthusiastic puller shouted. On the lift, Araly was content to observe the serene sea and the shifting swamp waters. She memorized the currents and tide that carried the waters around. After all, with no actual conversation, the trip straight up would take long enough for her to catalog anything she could see.

"It's an interesting island" Araly noted. "The ocean water mixes with the fresh water perfectly. The trees can still grow, but they're naturally dead looking. Despite that fact they're strong from the salt, like a huge barrier reef. The wildlife is huge too, for some reason. The minerals must mix with the sea salt to make some kind of steroid potion in the water. The people on this island must be huge too!"

"Porterhouse..." Maxwell muttered. His random dream-speech usually provided some odd insight to whatever situation was presented, but this case was an exception.

"We'll be arriving soon" Araly told herself. "I hope Bard hasn't gotten too impatient. He's got a short fuse when it comes to boredom. If there are any marines here, he's probably already started picking fights with them..."

"...Bink's sake..." Maxwell muttered in monotone.

"I never really noticed before" Araly said wistfully, "but the ocean really looks gorgeous. You must have seen the ocean a hundred times over, right? Where I'm from, the sun almost never shines. It's always storms and dark clouds looming overhead. It was a terrible place most of the time...but of course, we all had Bard to rely on. He'd make every day fun, even if he died trying..." As Maxwell snored and shook the rig, Araly started drifting off to the better days, when she had met Bard for the first time...

* * *

"Hey! You guys!" shouted a young, golden haired boy. "Watch me! Watch me! I'm gonna lift this cart!" He then pointed at a cart stacked with boxes and barrels.

"No you're not" one random man said. "We need at least two donkeys to pull that blasted thing."

"Just go back inside, Bard" a woman said exasperatedly. "No one wants to see you kill yourself today. Try tomorrow."

"No really!" Bard pleaded. "I lifted a rock that weighed as much as that cart, so I can definitely lift it!" No one listened and the villagers went about their business. Bard puffed up his cheeks in anger, then calmly blew it all out and smiled. Even at a mere ten years old, Bard was the image of total physical excessiveness. He had more muscles that any boy his age ever had, and he used them. So, the short boy ran over to the cart, disregarded not having an audience, and took a firm grip at the center.

"Basic martial arts can be applied to lifting" he told himself. "Just find the point where the weight is centered and balanced to lift everything at once. To overthrow an object, manipulate its center and move the weight around. I just have to worry about my technique..." So, securing a solid foot hold, Bard began by lifting with his strong and stout legs first.

"Araly!" called a woman, "come away from that window!" Araly, at age nine, was a petite young girl who just started styling her hair into a pony tail. She was watching eagerly from the window to the outside world, a place her parents forbid her from entering without her.

_Now I know what I'm missing out there! _Araly thought with the determination to stay in place and watch. Bard now began to lift with his whole body, and then with his arms. The cart was indeed off the ground, all four wheels, but no one was around to watch but Araly.

"Hey Ara" her brother now called. "Come on, mom's got dinner ready."

"Don, come look! Quick!" She called urgently. He walked over and peered out the window with her.

"What's up?" he asked, just now spying the young lad around his age lifting a heavy cart on his own. "Woah! That's amazing!"

"Right? You think he's a Devil Fruit user too?" Araly inquired.

"Children!" their mother harshly called. Don jumped in his skin and started running towards the kitchen.

"Coming!" he called back. "Ara, let's go! Quick!"

"Not now" Araly said, waving her hand at his to go away. "I wanna watch! Maybe he'll throw it!" Utterly captivated by Bard's ridiculous display of power, Araly made a swift move for the door. As for Bard, he was faring worse with each second.

_Woah!_ Bard said in his mind as his teeth were clenched hard enough so the air in his mouth couldn't escape. _This is making my head hurt! But I can't give up! Now that I've got this in the air, I'm gonna lift it over my HEAD!!!_ With this new conviction, he dug his feet deep into the rocky road on which he stood and started pushing the cart further up. From its exact center, Bard was lifting the whole weight of the cart. Once it was over his head, his admiring public came out at last.

"Holy Hell!" one man shouted.

"Bard, be careful!" a woman yelled with great concern.

"Great job!" Araly called from her doorway. "You can do it! Throw it into the sky!" Bard glanced over with his greatly strained face and saw the expression on the girl's face. She was smiling, brimming with joy, just by watching him do what he does. The rush of having a fan felt great, like a warm wind at his back, and Bard winked out a smile. He bent his knees down, like he was seriously preparing to throw the cart, and pumped his muscles as fast as he mentally could.

"UUUUUUUUREEAAAAAHHHH!!!!" Bard roared, shooting his whole body upward. The cart was airborne overhead! The moment of triumph lasted all of one half-second until the cart came crashing down on top of Bard, but the feeling he got and the impression Araly felt was a rush he never knew before.

"Oh my GOD!" one villager shouted.

"Mrs. Samekawa's gonna throw a fit!" someone else fearfully shouted.

"Worse yet, she'll kill us!" another figured. Araly was now standing with her arms down, her grin faded, and her eyes apathetic.

"I knew it" she told herself. "I knew that would happen. I thought he'd catch it, but he didn't, so now he's dead."

"Hey!" a feeble voice called out in her direction. Out from the undercarriage of the busted cart crawled Bard, perfectly fine if a bit shaken. "I'm a pretty strong guy, huh?" Araly turned, now interested again, but stayed on her apathetic tone.

"I guess." She said. Bard chuckled happily.

"I'm Bard" he said. "What's your name?"

"Araly" she responded.

"Hey, you wanna see me wrestle a mountain grizzly?" Bard offered. "i know where they hang out and I'll let you tag along tomorrow if you want!"

"Umm..." Araly hummed. She didn't have an answer in particular, but she knew what she'd say. So, forming a smile she-

"ARALY!!!" Her mother growled, grabbing her arm, "when I say come, you better move you butt and GET TO THE KITCHEN!!!" She was then dragged away without acknowledging Bard again.

"Alright" Bard called to the house. "I'll be by tomorrow! I promise, you won't be disappointed!" That was their first meeting, the beginning of their strange friendship, and one of Araly's fondest memories. For that night, as she was alone and confined to her room, the images of foolish, muscle-headed Bard ran through her mind and forced her to laugh herself to sleep...

* * *

"Welcome!" shouted a strong and burly voice. Araly snapped out of her daydream and looked around. She was not only at the top, but had been for some time as she was still sitting in the same position on the grass with Maxwell right beside her, only now a new load of pirates and supplies was being lifted up and unloaded.

"Here's the last of the food" Marco said. "Now we can start setting up camp!"

"Phew!" exclaimed one of the strong pullers. "That took forever, didn't it?"

"Not really" another said. "Just a couple minutes after Captain Araly and Max were unloaded."

"EH!?" Araly shouted. "Wait, why did our trip take the longest?"

"Because" Marco said, "These guys can pull really fast, but the ride gets really bumpy and you can't stand or stay on well. You just wanted to get up with no trouble and we didn't want to drop Maxwell down the cliff."

"That's cruel!" Araly said. "I'm as much of a crewman as any of you! I want a fast ride too!"

"No you don't" groaned one of the pirates. He and several others were leaning over the cliff and retching. "It's...not for the weak willed." Araly groaned and sank back into the ground she sat on. The supplies were all up and the pirate crew was almost fully assembled. Once Zan, Rez and Bard were rounded up, the Buster Pirates could rest peacefully until their ship was dislodged and their pose was set...

...however, the wretched isle had other plans for the three fighters and even an unwanted surprise waiting in the shadows for the crew and Araly. What could be lurking in those dark, damp woods?


	54. The Heretic March pt3

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

With the triumph of victory rushing through him, Bard decided to flaunt it a little. He leaned back and raised up his right arm with a shaking fist and a smile, then shot it down to point at Arthir across the way and whipped his head down so his eyes glared more than normal.

"Next?" Bard lowed. Arthir shivered for a second, then picked himself up and started walking over. Arthir was a much bigger man than his soldiers, a very large human even by Bard's standards. His hammer was the normal, two-handed weight and size of the rest of the Paladins, but he only needed one hand to use it.

"Thou shalt pay, pirate" Arthir snarled. He took a large stride at Bard and leaned down to come face-to-face with him. "I am justice! And you shall fall!"

"You're breath smells like cats" Bard said, squinting his eyes in disgust. Arthir went back up in surprise but shook off the insult.

"Have you no blade, outsider?" Arthir asked.

"Nope" Bard said. "Just my arms and legs."

"But they can cut like blades" Arthir said. "And your arms, they smash through metal like iron rods! You must have made a Devil's Deal to gain such powers."

"Devil...?" Bard repeated, confused. "No, I just train really hard every day and eat lots of meat! Protein is important for a martial artist!"

"Martial Artist?" Arthir repeated, equally confused as Bard seemed to be. "What man can transform the matrimonial ceremony and call it a piece of art? Are you some type of painter?"

"...eh!?" Bard grunted. "Listen, let's just fight. No offense, but we're just going to get lost if we keep talking."

"Agreed" Arthir said. "Prepare whatever powers thou have, knave, for my righteous hammer the Argent Fist, shall drive you into hell and back!"

"Then you should stay on guard" Bard said, "because my Rokushiki attacks will bury you in a mound of horse manure!"

"Have at thee!" Arthir roared. He charged with his hammer overhead and ready to strike viciously. Bard kept his ground until the hammer started swinging, then Soru'd out of the way. The strike made the ground crack, rumble, and at length erupt with spikes and spires of rock.

"Cool!" Bard said, observing from a safe distance. "His hammer can move the earth! All their hammers seem to have some weird ability. Also, they all have those glowing papers on them too..."

"RAAAGH!" Arthir growled. "You shan't escape me, knave!" Bard simply stood thinking with his fist balled on his chin, trying to make sense of these knights and their odd powers. Arthir continued charging anyway, ignoring his opponent's unreadiness, and when he was in range he made a sweeping swing.

"That's it!" Bard said, pounding his fist into his hand. He jumped over the hammer, grabbed onto Arthir's hand and balanced himself in the air. "The paper! You're using magic paper!" Arthir was taken aback entirely by the accusation. Bard took the opportunity to kick him in the chest, sending him skidding back on his feet. Arthir was able to regain his mind in time to stomp forward and keep himself from falling. He glared up at the boy who discovered his secret and turned his hammer around.

"How...?" Arthir muttered. "How could you deduce that?"

"Easily" Bard said, "because the paper glows! And if something glows, it has to be magical!" Surprisingly, Arthir was again taken aback by Bard's stupid and uneducated explanation.

"So my ruse is found out" Arthir lamented. He then went from dreadful and solemn to serious and vindicated. "I shall make sure you carry that secret to thy grave!" He came at Bard with his hammer up, and twisted at the hip to power his swing. Bard decided to take a more offensive defense by planting his left foot forward and swinging to his left with both arms. This sent his right foot flying up with the necessary speed to counter the hammer blow and deflect it to the side. Once the foot and hammer connected, Bard used his immense muscular power to swing his leg like a sword and sent a Rankyaku wave into the hammer.

"Now for the kill" Bard said. He let his left leg lift off the ground and drew it back, attempting a Rankyaku spear type move point-blank at Arthir's stomach. Arthir was smiling.

_Young fool_ Arthir thought. _I was anticipating your callous move._ He took his hammer as it was thrown back, gripped it hard, and swung it back at Bard. The Rankyaku wave that hit the hammer was shot back out and into Bard, knocking the wind and some blood out of him before sending him flying away. Bard crashed into the wall of a soldier's cabin and came to rest in a chair inside. He coughed a few times and felt at the tear in his cloak and skin.

"He deflected my deflection?" Bard said with shock. "That paper must have some...reflective magic or something...huh?" Bard finally saw the end of the hammer he hit. The long, flat side of the diamond colored mace had no paper on it, just a bright and shining mirror side.

"This hammer is just as magical as the paper" Arthir growled. "It takes the properties of whatever hits it, fire, ice and even air, then reflects it back in the fashion it was absorbed. That was the **Argent Mirror** you just experienced. Did it hurt?" Bard started growling and gritting his teeth.

* * *

"Oh, good God, no!" a guard pleaded.

"It is the end" a village woman lamented.

"..." stared Coleen in shock from behind a house ahead. Ramone was walking through the single-street village with insects buzzing around and through him. They entered through his ear and left through his nose, in and out the unseen holes within his coat, all searching for the guards that were still hiding in the houses. Of course, the brave and zealous fools that wanted to take him on themselves still came out from time to time.

"Halt!" one of ten guards ordered. "You shall progress no further, demon!" Ramone stopped and glared at the small line in front of him.

"Don't kid yourselves" he warned. "You guys ain't worth messin' with. Just run away..."

"I think not" the guard growled. "We shall forgo the formalities of the gallows and spear you here and now!"

"Gggg...." Ramone sighed with a growl. He raised up his hands and stretched them out to his sides. From his coat sleeves, his hands extended and started growing in tumorous growths. The guards watched the hideous process until both his hands resembled huge wasp nests filled with holes. "**Stinger Hell...**" he commanded. At his word, an army of wasps with huge stingers and bladed legs came flying out of his hive-hands to attack the guards. "Those stingers can pierce through even steel armor at top speed. I'd keep them away from my face if I were you..." The guards were in full panic, spear-tipped stingers stabbing them from all directions.

"Ha!" another leader for another line laughed. "Those men always were weak and unlucky. Let's see how you fare with me, Lucky James the Gambler!" Ramone stared down this new, annoying looking man in the feather-plumed metal hat. His wasps were called back into his hives and his hands slowly formed back into hands.

"There's no such thing as luck moron" Ramone said. "People like you, who always chalk up success to luck or coincidence or destiny, you all make me sick..." Ramone raised up his left hand how, all fingers tight together with his thumb between the middle and ring finger. His hand now started morphing into a huge, thick, wriggling rod with uncountable twitching protrusions on the sides. "All there is to success is hard work. Even I, who escaped the Goal out of chance, believe that..."

"What an archaic thought" Lucky James said with a haughty laugh. The guards in the line with him laughed as well. "Hard work only gets you to the cola mines! Hard work only begets hard work! But once you start wining by chance and luck, nothing can stop you! The sooner you stop your hard work and rely on your own precious skills and luck alone, the sooner you can ascend to the top!"

"Shut the *** up" Ramone snarled. The guards all jumped at his voice now, as it was different. It had a very disturbing drone under it, like the insects within him were talking along with him. "I'm gonna rip your filthy brain out..." Finally, his left arm extended out three-fold the length of his whole body as a giant, fat, and wide-mawed millipede. "**Mi-Go!** Rip them apart..." With a screech, the millipede whipped about and detached from his arm at the shoulder, leaving yet another huge hole for the bugs to go from. The millipede sped along the ground, dodging all manners of spears and swords, chomping and biting at the legs of the guards.

"Come here, you..." Growled one guard. He caught the thing, but its slippery back and sharp hairs scraped at the guard's leather gloves, eventually ripping them off and cutting his hand up. "Ah! It can't be caught!" he yelled.

"We can't hit it!" another guard said.

"Leave it to me!" Lucky James called. He raised up his leg, waited for the millipede's head to move into place, then stomped down with full force. The force of his steel-cased foot meeting the rock-hard exoskeleton of the insect sent the slow shivering pain of a shattered shin bone up to his mind. "GAAAAAAAHH!!! HOW UNLUCKY!!!"

"Indeed" Ramone lowed, calling the soldier back into his arm. "How very unlucky for you...not." With yet another line of guards defeated and the most prolifically lucky man unable to walk, Ramone started forward again. His target was obvious, the castle and its king, but his path was still unevenly blocked. Lines of guards formed in front of him, all deathly loyal to their king. "...Ggggg....this is getting good..."

* * *

At the temporary Buster Pirates plateau camp, Araly was gathering herself an expedition party to find their way to the nearest source of human life.

"Will this do?" she asked, looking at her team of Marco and four of the strongest present pirates.

"It should" Marco said, scratching at his bandanna.

"Okay" Araly said. "using my mystical woman's intuition, I shall point us to the nearest living being that is not an animal or monster..." She started rubbing her temples and humming. She licked her finger and held it up to the air. She picked up a stick and set it on its end to see where it fell. Ignoring all these impulses and signs, she pointed randomly in front of her and started marching with cords of rope at her waist just in case.

"Woman's intuition?" Marco asked. Araly just giggled and continued onward. To the groups astounding luck, after only a short trip of a minute or so, they came upon a cave with writing on the walls.

"Never doubt the woman's intuition!" Araly chided. Marco chuckled and rubbed his neck.

"Who's there?" a grumpy voice called from within. The pirates jumped. "It better not be anotehr damn knight! I'm getting sick of you punks taking all my hard work without any compensation!!!"

"Umm..." Araly began, but found no words after that to say.

"That's it!" the haggard voice called. "I'm getting' my cane! You better be gone when I get out there!"

"Uh, Ma'am?" Marco called into the cave, assuming the voice was that of a woman. "We aren't knights. We're pirates, and we're trying to figure out where we are..."

"Oh" the woman said, now coming into view. She was a warty old hag with sweet eyes and a largely-humped back, making her look about as tall as Araly. Again, the muscular pirates jumped, some into each other's arms, at the sight of her.

"Is it really human?" one of the asked.

"I knew it!" the burliest one cried. "There's no such thing as a woman's intuition. Araly just made it up!"

"Shut the hell up!" Araly growled.

"Well" the witch woman said, "aren't you all a lively bunch. Heeheehee! My name is Harriet Potecceli, the island witch and alchemist. Won't you come in, dearys?"

"Oh" Araly said graciously. "Thank you very much, Ma'am."

"And don't 'Ma'am' me anymore" Harriet warned. "I'm not so old to get 'Ma'amed' by pirates, you know." Araly followed her inside, beckoning Marco and the rest after her. Marco went on ahead fearlessly, but the cowardly brawlers decided to stay at least ten steps behind their acting captain out of fear.

"Captain Araly" one of them whispered, "don't get into anything that looks like a cooking pot!"


	55. The Heretic March pt4

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Araly sat, hands wrapped around her knee, on a low stool in the cave. Marco was content to stand guard near the home-hovel entrance while the other pirates stayed outside. The inside of the oddly spacious cave had shelves carved from the walls that held a spectrum of colored bottles and flasks. There were beakers and tubes and miscellaneous chemistry equipment everywhere, mahogany-carved tables with broken legs or small holes on the surface. Most of the furniture looked either used or abused, and even the stool Araly relaxed on was wobbly.

"Question" Marco blurted to the witch, "where's the bathroom?" Harriet pointed to the cave entrance, which Marco stared at for a while before beading some sweat and falling against the wall. "I'll hold it."

"So, Miss Potecceli" Araly politely began, "you don't happen to know about any pirates on the island other than us, do you?"

"Sorry, honey" the witch apologized. "I stay in here most of the time."

"Oh" Araly said, disappointed. "What do you make in here?"

"Well" Harriet proudly began, "I'm what you'd call an 'alchemist'. I turn ordinary ingredients into amazing things."

"Isn't that what a cook does?" Marco added.

"Well, my stuff isn't edible" Harriet said. "I come from a long line of potion makers and other alchemists. My family traveled the sea, gathering rare ingredients and selling elixirs on the open water...until we came here. As soon as we offered them some potions and basic mineral drinks, they attacked us. A few of us died, and I was forced into exile with my friends in these woods."

"Oh my" Araly gasped. "What happened to your parents?"

"They made a face-altering potion" Harriet explained "and blended in with the townies when I was a younger, beautiful woman. They never came back, so I assumed they were dead..."

"I'm so sorry" Araly said. Marco showed his despair by grabbing and lowering the brim of his bandanna over his eyes.

"Ah, don't be" Harriet said. "That was ages ago. These people haven't changed at all, that's for sure." Araly continued to take notice of the beakers and glasses all round the lair, and she saw the painted parchment on one table. Scrawled on it were curious symbols and curves that she could read at the angle she sat at.

"What are those?" Araly asked, pointing to the paper. Harriet followed her finger to the glowing, colored ink and picked up the slip of paper.

"Oh these?" Harriet answered. "Those fools out there think this stuff is magic, but it's really basic alchemy. It's exploding ink!"

"Really?" Araly asked. She held out her hand for the paper and took a slip carefully in her hands.

"I heard of that stuff" Marco said. "I never heard anything good about it, though. It's a tool assassins use when delivering documents. When pressure is applied to the ink, it discharged a type of energy depending on what ink is used, right?"

"Correct" Harriet said. Araly quickly shoved the paper back for the witch to take and curled up away from the table. "I get to live here peacefully as long as I can supply those idiot Paladins with my 'holy magic' papers. Honestly..."

"This isn't easy stuff to make" Marco added, taking new appreciation for the witches hovel. "I'm surprised you can make it in these conditions."

"Well what do you think this hump's from?" Harriet asked. "Bending over that damn bench all day, nearly every day, that's what! And I'll tell you, those eels they bring me can be pretty slippery!"

"Eels?" Araly asked. "The ink is from..."

"Eel blood" Harriet finished. "Not normal eels, either. Deadly Calm Belt eels that you can only buy on the black market. I'm grateful to continue my practices here, but dammit it gets lonely."

"Wow" Araly sighed. "This is all so odd. But then, where are the island's inhabitants?"

"Are you blind, girly?" Harriet asked sternly. "You didn't see the whole village and the castle? You didn't see nothing on your way to the island?"

"We saw a flag" Marco said, "and that was enough."

"Ah, that" Harriet said, as if she already heard the conversation before. "The World Government flag, right? Yeah, not really. In fact, if the Marines ever got around to this island, they'd probably wipe it out. This isn't a regular Grand Line island, it's inhabited by criminals. And not normal criminals either. You see, this whole island is just a long-running experiment..."

"What!?" Araly gaped. It was an unbelievable development. What civilians there may be were only part of some wild experiment?

* * *

In the castle, Gretta and her rosy-cheeked father were ushered for their meeting to the back room behind the throne room. In the wake of the current pirate siege and the recent news of the marching heretic Ramone Cervantes, the guards were taking every precaution possible.

"My daughter" Rupert began with his dainty daughter daintily slouching in a velvet lined seat, "it is time you and I had a talk."

"What about?" Gretta asked.

"Well, you see," Rupert humbly began, "it is about your mother. You see, she was an outsider, but I accepted her regardless and fell in love with her many years ago. When you were born, the whole kingdom was uproarious of you...condition. They blamed you mother and chased her away. She then fled with the next batch of outsiders who came, but she wanted you to stay here and be raised as royalty!"

"I don't really care" Gretta said, lethargically staring at the ceiling. "When is Mr. Demon coming? It's been a long time since he and I could talk."

"That is what I wanted to talk to you about" Rupert began again. "It was your mother's wish, her only living request, that you have a privileged and distinguished life. That is why you and I stayed here on this crazy island, so you could rule over the land as a true princess! Every gift and desire of your fulfilled! But then _he_ came, that damn pirate and his crew!"

"Is this about my current desires?" Gretta guessed.

"Gretta" Rupert sternly said, "I love you, and I will honor any wish of yours, but it for safety sake that I cannot allow you to consort with that villain! He aims to do me in for exiling him and wrecking his ship!"

"You deserve it" Gretta said spitefully. "He was just a wayward adventurer, looking for the next island on his path, and you stranded him! You clipped a glorious phoenix's wings!"

"He is no glorious bird" Rupert demanded, "although I will admit he is a mighty co-"

"Your highness!" a guard reported, just in time to censor his ruler, "Most grievous news!"

"What be it?" Rupert demanded. Gretta sighed over his dorkish persona and leaned back in her chair.

"A new group of outsiders cometh up the hill!" the guard said. "The Argent Fist lie all defeated but Sir Arthir, who is currently engaged with the dreaded, golden-haired demon captain who is known as Bard!"

"A Bard leads an attack against me?" the king retorted. "How mighty must his fingers be to topple my finest soldiers with his melodies?"

"He is no musician" the guard dreadfully said, "but some manner of terrible fiend! A DEMON!" This got Gretta's attention finally. The talk of demons made her sit backwards in her chair and forced blush to her bleach-white cheeks.

"Two demons in one day?" the king sighed. "I suppose we have no choice. You have my royal permission to let loose Sir Drakengard." The guard's eyes went vivid with fear and the breath was drained from him. However, as it was a royal decree, he worked up his courage and bowed respectfully, then ran off.

"Father" Gretta cutely began. Rupert turned to his young daughter and saw her staring at him with wide-open, sparling red eyes. The beautiful shade of rose against her pure, white snowy skin made the air seem light and hypnotic. "May I please watch the battle up close? Pwease???" The piercing puppy-eyes were too much for even the great king himself. After a moment of writhing his hands on his regal crown, he sighed heavily and gave into his daughter's impossible charm.

"Fine" Rupert submitted. His daughter was already dressed in her outside wear with a heavy scarf and white-tiger fur coat and passed him by with her same, apathetic eyes. "However, I will supervise you!"

"No you won't" she said.

"Oh yes I shall!" Rupert demanded. "No daughter of mine will be among the demons and maniacs unescorted! I shall only tend to you as a chaperon, not as a restricter."

"Promise" Gretta demanded. "On my mother's grave, you must promise me."

"I can't do that" Rupert solemnly said, "because your mother may not be dead. I shall honor her wish, so long as you can defend yourself."

"Oh" Gretta said. She exited the safe room and whistled for a guard. "Fetch me my bow and a quiver of arrows" she demanded. The guard saluted and ran off. "I wish to greet the handsome demon king with all my heart..."

* * *

Near the barracks at the top of the hill, Rez and Zan were coming upon the battlefield that Bard helped create.

"He is near" Rez lowed. "I know it."

"Stop joking" Zan demanded. Rez chuckled at his joke nonetheless and let Zan go ahead. He looked back at the houses he had left behind and saw Coleen ducking back into cover.

"You can come out now" Rez called. "We both know you've been following us." Coleen shyly stepped out and folded her hands at her hips. "Come on. If you're going to keep tabs on us, at least do it up here." Coleen ran up the hill and stayed a few steps behind Rez and Zan. Zan observed and inspected the damage he could see, snorting away the trail of his cigarette smoke as he did.

"It looks pretty wrecked" he noted. "Bard must have been through here."

"Why do you guys say those things...?" Coleen shyly asked.

"What things?" Rez asked back.

"About your captain" she said. "You should respect your captain. He always knows what he's doing..."

"Bard isn't fit to be my captain" Rez growled. "He's no more my captain than this jerk here" and he nodded over to Zan, who happily smiled and winked at the compliment.

"But it's rude!" Coleen shouted. She covered her mouth in embarrassment over raising her voice and turned away.

"We're guys" Zan said. "Guys make fun of each other for their short comings. Bard would do it too, if he weren't so damn jolly all the time."

"He's not even a real pirate" Rez argued. "He just became one for no reason! Then he beat me up!"

"How does beating you make him worse than anyone else?" Zan asked. The two went back and forth a few more times before the abusive tension they created started to get to Coleen. After years in the crew of the Ghost Killers and the time she spent being the go-to girl for the crew and first underling of Cervantes, she became so comfortable with mistreatment of her crewmen. And she smiled. She laughed and smiled, as shy as she was around strangers, at the antics of these two foreign yet very familiar pirates. Rez and Zan were pulling at each other's mouths, literally, when they saw Coleen laughing.

"Wha's funneh?" Rez asked, as his mouth was pulled at the cheeks.

"You guys are!" Coleen said, pointing with her good arm and holding her gut with the other. "You're at each others throats! It's funny!"

"You've got a warped sense of humor, girl" Zan said, pulling away from Rez's military finger-grip.

"Well, well" lowed a terribly deep, growling voice. "What's all this here? More knaves to be perished?" Rez, Zan, and Coleen looked back and up in shock at the tall adversary wielding a huge hammer. He smiled a wicked smile under glaring eyes and a thunderous horizon. In the distance behind him, which captured Rez's attention first, was Bard. It was obvious from his painful stance and the wetness underneath him that he was in deep trouble. The coldness swelled up in Rez's chest and then burst out his mouth with unheard of concern that he had never spoken.

"BARD!!!" He screamed. Zan looked over and shared his thoughts in a terrified gasp.

"Captain!" Zan exclaimed. Coleen was in shock, and all she could do right now was stare at the man in front of her.


	56. The Heretic March pt5

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Bard is injured! The effects of Arthir Blightsmiter's weapon, the Argent Fist, have overpowered him completely. He now shuffled into battle, clutching his shoulder with dripping blood from his mouth down his arm, and a beaten expression. But has he given up...?

_This is harder than I expected_ Bard thought. _His stupid hammer can deflect and absorb all my attacks! He isn't using as many attacks now, he's just defending, but I'm still rushing in like an idiot! I just have to calm down and plan this out..._ Despite his pain, Bard took a fighting stance, legs apart and chest perpendicular to his enemy, with his arms tightly drawn like he held a bow and arrow. Using his clenching index and middle fingers on his forward left hand, he aimed down Arthir's blind spot and prepared to blast it full force.

_Just pay him no mind_ Rez told himself, staring down the man in front of him with drawn blades. _Bard has a plan, just don't ruin it..._

"What a righteous day!" Arthir praised to the skies. "A whole gaggle of ye sinners and heretics coming to mine doorstep. It is great fortune for me, but mighty ill for thou..." He took up his hammer and arched his back to his smaller opponents. Coleen trembled and tried to shuffle her way out of the battle, but Arthir spotted her. Zan, as a professional, read his movements and preemptively stopped an attack at Coleen while it was in process. "Die, wench!" Arthir screamed.

"Go to hell" Zan lowed. He kicked up, letting his metal boot knife pop out, and made a slice at Arthir's arm. The Paladin was able to change the course of his attack in time to avoid getting cut, but the offensive wasn't yet over. Rez was on the move as well, holding his left blade like a sword and the other in a reversed grip.

"Hoo-wah!" Rez shouted. First, he stabbed into Arthir's armor, and pulled the trigger. In his gun were compressed metal slugs, strong enough to blow through a ship's main mast and break anything. It hit the tempered armor with a dull but resonating 'DOH', sending Arthir a few steps back. Then, while he stumbled, Rez scaled his chest in a step and arrived at his neck, holding it down. Finally, he hoped Bard could see him, and he winked. Bard did see him and all his efforts, so he took his chance and attacked!

"Here I go!" Bard said. He Soru'd onto Arthir's back. His left leg was on Arthir's left shoulder, and his right leg was drawn far back in a sort of fierce kicking motion. Arthir only now noticed the dire state of his position. With the smaller one holding his neck in place, the cunning one with the bladed feet preventing any attack and the strong one about to make a neck-breaking kick, his options were few. However, he still had a plan. "**Spiking KICK!**" Bard roared. He dipped down at his knee and began shooting his right knee forward. Although a direct kick with his foot would have been fatal in the right place, it was still risky.

_I'll sacrifice power for efficiency_ Bard thought. _An open elbow is more powerful than a closed fist, although it has shorter range. With my knee, he'll be dizzied, and since Rez and Zan are fighting with me, we can easily drain him and get him on his knees!_ Arthir used his last move. First, he slammed his head forward and forced Rez out of his position, then as Bard's knee came to the back of his head, thinking it was in fact his foot, Arthir reeled his head back very quickly. Bard wouldn't be standing so firmly on his trapezoids if they weren't huge, of course.

_Enjoy the broken foot, cur!_ Arthir mentally shouted. The force of Bard's knee combined with Arthir's reverse headbutt made a huge impact on both parts. The single point that Bard attacked instantly formed a bruise on Arthir's skull, but Bard's leg was shaken. He had to hop off and away to recover, while Arthir was forced to drop his hammer and stumble forward with twitching fingers around his bruised skull.

"Oh, you miscreant!" Arthir groaned. "Why did you not use a proper motion to kick me?"

"I'm a smart fighter" Bard said, taking his injured knee into his hands. "I know better than to use minimal force for rock-skulled dude like you! My knee's a hell of a lot more solid than my toes are!"

"The genius of our captain is impressive" Zan noted.

"Ah, shut up" Rez said, now getting up from the ground and adjusting his headband. "We distracted him. Bard would've failed if not for us."

"Indeed" Zan said. "Perhaps we should compete to be the first mate when we're done here."

"Screw you!" Rez shouted.

"While you animals converse of silly things" Arthir groaned with increasing menace, "my power continues unhindered." He grabbed at his hammer, spun around and stomped a step forward to Bard. "Sir Bard! Clearly, I have underestimated your capacity as a warrior. Therefore, I challenge you to a one-on-one honor duel!"

"Really?" Bard asked, still clenching his leg. "I'm okay with that. You guys, stay out of this, okay?"

"No way!" Rez called. "We're pirates, dammit! We don't have honor!"

"My skills as a fighter have been challenged" Bard said, standing up with a little shiver. "Right now, I'm a fighter, and only a fighter!" Bard, despite his obvious injuries, was able to cockily pound his fists together with a smile. "I accept your challenge!" Arthir grinned wide at Bard's response, but Rez was less enthusiastic. Zan looked back at Coleen and saw that she was totally mesmerized by the fluidity of the previous moment. She was still staring in awe at the open, darkening sky.

* * *

Down the hill still, in the upper altitude of the village that wasn't ruined by Coleen's cannon, Ramone walked on unchallenged. It seemed that the guards had finally caught on to the pattern of come-out-and-die that Ramone was repeating for them. Most of the guards were barely sustained by instant care from the house women and stronger men, but more than half of the force was already wiped out. Most of them were still hiding with shameless cowardice, and those that were neither begrudgingly planned their next attack.

"Gggg...." Ramone growled. "How uninteresting this has become..." he said finishing with a yawn. "I'm getting tired." Then he stopped, seemingly without warning or general purpose, and sat on the ground. He crossed his legs, rested his elbow on his leg, and placed his chin upon his fist. The guards observed his apparent nonchalant demeanor and became angry.

"He mocks us!" one lowed.

"How dare he!?" another scowled.

"We must show this demon what righteousness does to the unholy!" another preached. His speech warranted a soft cheering, but ultimately all the soldiers did was hide in the houses and leer at him. The villagers didn't bother to look at the unsightly demon who caused so much carnage already. Ramone just leaned into his fist, drowsily drifting from a cautious apathy of destruction to a bored tiredness.

"Unforgivable" a voice growled. Ramone peered through one eye to see the owner of the voice, a scrawny young man with a pitchfork, standing in front of him. Plain and uninteresting with a face that has seen suffering, Jedediah blacked his halted path. "Your kind are unforgivable..." He was glowering at Ramone, so much so that it was getting on Ramone's nerves. Emily watched her brother from a distance and prayed silently for his safety.

"Eh?" Ramone grunted. "I'm unforgivable?"

"You killed my family!" Jed shouted. "My sister and I are all that remains of thy foul attack. Such indecency, such heresy! You have killed those dear to me!!!"

"I'm a pirate" Ramone clarified. "Pirates usually kill people. In fact, in heated battles, it's hard not to kill people."

"Silence!" Jed screamed, pointing his feeble farming tool at Ramone's face from a distance. "I won't allow you to lie at me! You cannot deceive me!"

"I'm not trying to" Ramone said, slowly getting back up.

"That man" one guard said "has stepped into the afterlife already."

"Pray for a painless death" another guard offered and started.

"Listen" Ramone began to the stubborn man as he dusted off his pants, "I won't apologize if it won't make you feel better. My life was as in much danger as your brother's or father's or whoever's that day. You think I wasn't trying? You think I wanted to get exiled to the goddamn swamplands for a whole year!? None of what happened was initially intentional. We were all defending ourselves and, in the process, people died. Killing me or attacking me won't bring them back, and I'm sure it won't leave a good taste in your mouth later, either."

"..." Was Jed's first response. In a way, he wanted to back down, as he felt a touch of sympathy for this devil. But, as his zealous sense of justice overwhelmed his common sense, he abandoned his words and common sense in favor of a full charge. "To hell with you, Demon!" Ramone sighed and waited for the blow to come, perfectly aware of his ability to negate it. He was stabbed minorly and coughed a bit. Jed tried to dig the fork in further, but Ramone reacted to the pain and threw the weapon away.

"There was salt on that thing" Ramone said.

"It is thy weakness" Jed pointed out, retrieving a bag of salt and retreating a step back. "It is a well known fact. Demons of the sea cannot tolerate the purity in the waters known to thee as salt..." Jed retrieved a handful of said from the pouch and held it in the fashion that he would soon throw it as well. Ramone was now on edge, but unwilling to harm an innocent person. Therefore, he stepped forward and got pelted with weakening salt.

"I have worked hard to get where I am" Ramone testified. "I trained countless hours everyday at sea. Ever since my fateful and unrecorded escape from the Goal, every moment of my life was lived like the greatest battle of my life was shortly coming. You have no idea what kind of pain and anger I felt when I was stranded here. I was hurt. All my life felt wasted, like it wouldn't go anywhere. And now that an opportunity to escape has come up again, I don't think I can do it. I'm actually too unfaithful of myself to press onward now, and it's this island's fault!"

Ramone stopped just short of Jed when he ran out of salt and accepted his fate. Ramone stood over him with stern eyes fixed to the sky, covered entirely with salt but still standing and unmoved mentally by its effects.

"I cannot sympathize with you" Jed declared. "Strike me down now, but know that I will die with a righteous cause in my heart."

"Ggggg...." Ramone growled. "I won't kill you. You have a future." So, instead, Ramone just gave a powerful punch to Jed's diaphragm that lifted him from the ground and then let him fall back down onto his face. Emily screamed in fear, the guards looked on in horror, and Ramone just walked on with a newly found sense of urgency. "Now, my hope is renewed. Those kids are my damn ticket outta here. Those Buster Pirates...yeah..." And now, for the first time in what may have been over a year, he smiled. It was a smile that pulsated with absolute menace and vileness, a totally evil look for such a joyous feeling inside of him...


	57. The Heretic March pt6

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"What do you mean...experiment?" Araly asked. The situation was so striking and unusual, she jumped up from her seat. However, because of the unconscious training she had, the exciting development only made her sleepy and unable to stand well.

"It's just as I said" Harriet responded. "That's not at all important, however. You want me to help you find your friends?"

"I think it is important" Marco said, standing away from the wall as his show of excitement. "What the hell kind of experiment involves a whole island full of people!?" Harriet sighed tiredly, and pulled a modern looking book from one of her cavern shelves. She opened it, thumbed through the pages, and started reading from one underlines excerpt.

"_The situation has become so bad that leading scientific commander Reginald Drakengard has offered a solution. The convict isle called Okumaiwa (Great Bear Rock) will be subject to a heavy dose of the mind-manipulation drug. Commander Reginald, under the order of leading scientist Doctor Vegapunk, will live on the island and observe the immediate and long term effects of the drug's process."_ With the passage read, she closed the book and set it back in the shelf.

"That was nearly twenty years ago" Harriet added. Araly could barely believe what she heard, so she passed out.

"She does that" Marco said. "Anyway, who was this Reginald Drakengard? I've been around twenty years and I never heard of...anything like this."

"You shouldn't have" Harriet said. "That is a top-secret document form the archives of the World Government itself. Because the log was incomplete and Reginald went missing, the Marines assumed the worst and thought the drug experiment went out of control. This entire island is assumed to have rabid, homicidal humans on it as a result, and no one ever comes near it."

"What did the drug really do?" Marco asked. "Obviously, if there were rabid humans running around, we would have noticed."

"Fortunately" Harriet said, "Reginald was in control of the experiment the entire time. For reasons I do not know, he decided to manipulate the convicts of the island into nincompoops who speak a bizarre dialect and dress like weirdos."

"That's it?" Marco asked. "You'd think, with that kind of power, he'd raise an army or something...and why was there a convict isle? Why wouldn't the government just send these prisoners to the Gaol?"

"They were deserters and defectors of the World Government" she explained. "Proud men who sold their souls to the devil for fortune, but ended up infamous. Many of these men were guards and workers at the Great Gaol, Impel Down, and I believe the man who 'left' is here as well." Marco gasped dramatically. He had only ever heard stories of 'that man', and he was rumored to be here!?

"What'd I miss?" Araly said, dizzying out of her feinting spell.

"A dangerous man may be here" Marco muttered. "Araly! We have to find Bard and the others before anyone else does! Who knows what these psychos will do if they encounter some normal human beings!"

"You go" Araly said sleepily, laying on the floor with a pillow at her head, "I'll stay here."

"That's too inconvenient!" Marco shouted. "Quit falling asleep when exciting things happen!"

"Oh, don't worry yourself, deary" Harriet said waving her hand. "I'd be more than happy to have some company. Would you like to learn a bit of alchemy while you stay?" Araly gave it a thought, and went over every possible answer in her head. Her response was almost too sudden in that regard.

"Yes!" she said. "Marco, you're temporarily in charge. Get out of the woods and find Bard. We're at the top of the plateau, so we should get a food vantage point somewhere."

"Yes, acting-captain!" Marco saluted. He went sprinting out of the cave, and his fellow crewmen followed after him automatically.

"I knew it!" one of them shouted. "She was eaten, wasn't she!?"

"No" Marco answered, "let's just find Bard and the guys! We can't waste any time at all!" Without any more words, the Buster pirate squad dashed through the forest in search of the rest of the crew to help them. However, with Marco leading, they were getting nowhere very fast...

* * *

In the yard of the Argent Fist's barracks complex, Arthir and Bard prepared for their face off. Bard stretched his arms and back, while keeping strain and pressure off his right leg. Rez and Zan stood behind him, where they considered the corner of his ring to be, and Coleen stood far away to avoid the unnecessary introduction. Mainly because she was there only to observe an report any decisive action against Ramone from Bard if she saw any.

"I got this" Bard said, flexing his arms high over his head.

"Not on a bad knee" Rez said. "Even if its' just a straight-up brawl and you can use your Tekkai technique, you won't be able to get in a good hit without proper grounding! You can't win with a bad leg."

"Yeah I can" Bard said. "By the way, who's that girl? Is she a villager or what? And what's with her arm?"

"Focus, captain" Zan said. "I hate to say it, but you may not be in the best shape to fight this man. He has experience, as I know you do, but his eyes are mad."

"His eyes?" Rez skeptically said. "His eyes aren't going to be swinging the damn punches!"

"I know what you mean, Zan" Bard replied. "I can see it too. That crazy and total apathy for human life...he's got the eyes of a killer, or a soldier still waist-deep in the trauma of war. I'll just avoid him when I can and strike at his neck! That's the safest plan." Bard set himself in a fighting pose, one where his right leg was forward and only very lightly touching the ground. He continued to refuse to put pressure on it, as his knee was already a fragile thing to injure, and held his arms up as a boxer would. Although he faced his opponent with total fighting conviction, Bard couldn't help but smile.

"Screw honor" Rez growled. "I'm saving you if you lose, you pompous moron!"

"Whatever" Bard replied. "I won't lose." Zan smiled at his captain's confidence, but all Rez could do was seethe. It was that confidence that got pirates killed on the Grand Line and he knew it, but Bard was still off in his happy little world where everything was alright.

"A warning must hence" Arthir warned, apparently. "I am known not only for my powerful hammer, but for my powerful arms as well! It is with these mighty pillars of justice and unwavering law that I may carry forth the force of Heaven against the impure and the unrighteous! These arms of mine are God-sent weapons of light!"

"Well my kicks can cut metal!" Bard gloated back. Although his statement held little bias, as he hadn't yet cut through anything thick enough for Bard to classify as 'metal'.

"Have at thee!" Arthir shouted, initiating the fight. Bard roared and charged forward as well, but in sprinting hobbles. Once in range, the battle began. Arthir threw a strong right hook down, but Bard leaned away. Then, Bard retaliated with a rising hit to Arthir's collar area, which he acknowledged with a frown and wide eyes. Then Arthir used his height and kicked at Bard. Again, Bard was too quick, even on one leg, and dodged yet again. Now slightly airborne, Bard jabbed quickly at Arthir's throat, getting four solid blows in as he fell, then another one-legged support uppercut to Arthir's jaw. This sent Arthir back a step, and Bard took the moment to hop back as well and breath.

"This would be easier" Bard noted "if I had that Endless Breath stamina...or whatever..."

"Guh" Arthir grunted. _He's quick, and powerful. He has a frightening combo, but without his right leg I know what limits he has been pushed to. Enjoy your fight, young Bard, for I shall make it your last on your own legs!_ "Well played, sir Bard. I commend you as an adversary..." Arthir sneered his hateful gaze above his trusting grin to divert Bard's own attention away from his straying hand. Arthir wrapped his own fists with an explosive ink card and gripped it in his fist. This ink was orange and sparkling, pointed into his skin rather than away from his fist.

"Thanks" Bard said, his breath back, "you're pretty good too."

"Have at you then" Arthir lowed. Bard sprang high and far on one leg, coming down exactly at Arthir's face level with his good leg drawn back. Arthir kept his grin, gripped his paper, and stopped Bard's light-speed kick with a super-light-speed punch that sent him flipping through the air. Bard regained his gravity half-way through his tumble and used his good leg to stay upright and land on it.

"Damn!" Bard said in amazement. "How'd you get so fast!?"

"I told you already" Arthir said, almost annoyed. "My fists are heavenly weapons, forged to-" and as he gloated Bard Soru-jumped into his face with his shoulder. As he flew he also used Tekkai, so his tackle was even more devastating. He impacted into Arthir's jaw and kicked his throat to get off. "-mugeeehhh..." Arthir moaned in finish. He shook off the jarring hit and glowered at Bard. "How distasteful of thee! Didst thou really think I wouldn't expect such a lowly cur like yonder others to not attack me when my guard was down!?"

"Then why'd you lower your guard?" Bard asked. Arthir just seethed and got back into his basic fighting stance.

"I shall show ye what my power is!" he announced.

"I'm glad!" Bard said. "And if I like it, I'll show you what _my_ power is!" The gloat-fest between two brawny men became tense and ecstatically emotional now! Zan stood upright and proud to watch while Rez used his headband to cover one eye. Half the vision, half the shame, apparently.

* * *

Inside the underbelly of the regal castle, the king Rupert's royal guard nervously approached a cage of terribly wrought iron and barbed wires. Inside was a man of heavy breathing and heavier frame, the body of a man who spent more than one lifetime keeping himself in the prime shape of strength. Even in the absolute darkness one could see how impeccably ripped this specimen was. Now, he sat on the cold floor, wrapped in heavy chains with evil-looking crosses at the sides of his cell. A guard nervously approached.

"...Si-Sir Reginald Drakengard the T-T-Terrible..." he frightfully began. "You have been summoned by...by..."

"By...?" a hideously deep voice whispered. This made all the guards jump to attention and stunned the young guard reading his proclamation. "Was it the king?" asked the voice of the terrible man politely. The guard could only shake in fear to respond. "What does he need of me...?"

"...ee..." the guard squealed. The clanking of chains now came from the cage. Followed thereafter by the stomping of feet, Drakengard stood in front of the cage door with a gleaming mouth of white teeth and shady eyes of maddening villainous intent.

"Unlock this cage, boy" he ordered slowly. "I yearn to rip flesh once more..." The fear and tension in the room escalated exponentially when the fearless executioner consorts came by with the huge key to the huge padlock and opened the door. Out into the dim light stepped the man, clad in dirty pants and a black, bushy stubble beard, Reginald Drakengard in the flesh. "**Kurururururu...**" he growled in laughter. "I walk again...!"


	58. The Heretic March pt7

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Bard and Arthir clashed fists again. Arthir's fist smashed down hard into Bard's and forced him to guard with only his one good leg. He sank far down with his block and felt his boot touch his rear. That was the signal that his defense was getting too risky and he backed off. Still, with only one leg to use Soru with, he couldn't get too far and Arthir pursued.

"Why fly away, sir!?" Arthir growled. "Should you not stand like a man and take thy righteous punishment!?"

"Pirates that get punished stop being pirates and start being dead" Bard said, dodging a righteous foot stomp by Arthir. Still quite taller that Bard, the weight advantage was the obvious thing for Arthir to use in battle, but Bard was still confident in his own expertise as he saw Arthir breathing with exhaustion. _The body is naturally build for the arms to swing upwards, not down. He's using extra force to punch at me and I'm flowing with my natural rhythm! IF only I could use both legs to the max, though..._

"Verily!" Arthir did shout, "Now is thy eve of destruction!"

"Un-Verily!" Bard shouted back. "You're a moron!" Arthir was nearly toppled by words alone and stumbled to a stop in his advance.

"Wha-what?" Arthir calmly asked. "Ye think me a fool? A jester?"

"...uh, sure" Bard complied. "I mean, you're saying a bunch of weird stuff, like 'ye' and 'thou'. The weirdest word I ever heard before coming here was 'scalawag' and that's pirate talk."

"It is an odd word" Arthir said. "Let us not stray too far from the point! I shall agree, no more babbling. We shall fight with our fists until they break, rather than chatter until the tides swallow the land..."

"Yo-HO!" Bard agreed, not using words to speak already. He jumped up into the sky and pointed his good leg down in a spearing motion. He didn't name his technique, as he normally would, by shouting it into the air. Instead, he just labeled it quickly in his head. _Descending Spear Kick!_ As he approached Arthir's head, he drew back his leg into a full fold and prepared to make a much more devastating impact than before.

_So simple_ Arthir mocked internally. _I shall step to the side and avoid this foolishness!_ So he did, taking a large bound away. Bard smiled, expecting the even more obvious move, and revealed his fake by kicking the air with Geppou and jetting towards Arthir while he couldn't move out of the way again. This time, Bard held out his whole arm and toughened it with Tekkai.

_Fake into Tekkai Clothesline!_ Bard narrated uselessly. He flew straight into Arthir's mouth, a little above the intended target, but the hit was still resounding. With his iron-tough body, Bard tried to flex his arm and push his way off of Arthir's body and out of his grip, but his concentration slipped and he was stuck in Tekkai. His whole body tough and firm and malleable as iron, his muscles strained to make even a small crease in his skin, but to very little effect. The attack followed through all the way and Bard crashed Arthir into the ground, transforming his original clothesline into a full-on tackle.

_Oh crap_ Bard said, still in his flying clip pose, _I'm stuck. Okay, calm down, must imagine something to calm my body down..._

_Mine teeth!!!_ Arthir mentally anguished. _They are broken! This cur, I shan't stand for such trickery in an honorable battle!_ Now angry at his pirate adversary, Arthir picked Bard up by the solid, injured leg and drew him over his shoulder like a mace. Then, taking a striding step forward, he slammed Bard's back onto his knee. Now Arthir and Bard were matched in handicaps, as Bard's unbreaking Tekkai imitated the impact of an actual hammer to Arthir's knee and fractured it.

"GGNNNNNRRRRRRKKKAAAAH!!!" Arthir groaned. He tossed Bard away, and in mid-air he snapped back to his flexible normal state and flipped onto his feet. Then, he sank quickly with a gritted mouth and shut eye to his injured leg. Arthir couldn't even stand, and was reduced down to his hands on the ground for support. _C-Cur!_ Arthir mentally growled.

_Rankyaku!_ Bard shouted. He made a quick hop up on his good leg, then swung it vertically and landed on his hands. A quick break-dance later and one bash to Arthir's tough head and Bard was in another solid stance relaxing his hurt knee. _Damn, it's a lot less cool when I don't say it..._

"This is getting good" Rez noted. "I'm actually rooting for Bard."

"Hmm" Zan hummed thoughtfully. Rez looked at him and saw a hand cupping chin and made the assumption that Zan had something important that should have been noticed already.

"What's up?" Rez asked.

"Something here feels...fake" Zan said. "It's like one of them is hiding something from us and that something is altering the course of the battle."

_This bodes not well, indeed _Arthir thought dreadfully. _Although I wear these magical scrolls that, as the witch said, 'propel objects under pressure', I am losing this fight! My strength lies now in my mighty hands, and I must use that heavenly force to crush this man!!!_

_I still have time_ Bard told himself with a relaxed sigh. _My trump card isn't going anywhere anytime soon...still, I need to ease up on using Tekkai like that. I could get seriously thrashed if I get stuck again. This guy looks like he could eat steel if he wanted to..._

So the fight continued, with Arthir pressing both his stealthily hidden slips of magic paper to the ground and pushed himself up into the air with his arms. "RAAAHHH!!!" he roared,drawing back his right arm with the paper clenched tight in his fist. The paper sped up anything with kinetic energy that was under pressure. It was indeed meant to be placed in one's hands or feet, between the skin and the metal of the armor protecting one's limbs. Once this paper was clenched, any motion made would flash forward with intense kinetic energy and speed, and now such an attack was aimed at Bard!

_Crap!_ Bard exclaimed. _Soru!_ So he dashed away, narrowly avoiding the ground-demolishing smash made by Arthir's righteous fist. The impact was fierce enough to disrupt the ground and send Bard careening toward a broken barracks wall. Bard screeched to a stop on his good leg, however, and avoided more environmental damage. _He's...stronger? Than just a moment ago!?_"Okay" Marco proudly began. He raised a thumb up with a smile and said "We're totally lo-"

* * *

"DAMN YOU MARCO!" one burly pirate shouted, knee-dropping Marco in the gut. "We never should have let you lead us! Now we're hopelessly lost in these damn, endless woods!"

"What's worse" another pirate began, "is that these trees aren't even that thick or tight together. If we stop long enough and get a telescope out we could see a way out, but admiral moron insists that we rush ahead!"

"Sorry guys" Marco coughed. "I didn't think my sense of direction was this bad."

"Of course it is!" all three pirates shouted in unison.

Meanwhile, at the normal campsite,the rest of the crew had become restless and near the brink of rioting. Now, however, they were just bored and slouched around with nothing to do.

"When's dinner?" one pirate asked the group of chefs.

"Marco's the head chef" one of them said.

"And even without him," another noted, "we can't do anything properly without official captains' orders."

"Bears!" Maxwell excitedly muttered in his sleep. The crew initially chalked this outburst as a random act of their delusional comatose captain-figure, but this time he was really onto something. It took the crew a moment to realize it, but their combined intellect eventually figured it out.

Then a bear attacked them from the woods.

"Grooooaaah!" it roared.

"Shut up!" the muscular soldiers shouted, giving the great, huge bear a stern seven-fold uppercut to the jaw. The bear submitted and started away, but was quickly wrangled by the spare ropes left over from the pulley.

"Hang on now" a chef said with an evil grin, "we can use you for something!"

"Yeah" lowed another, beefy pirate. "Stew! We haven't had a good soup in a long time!" The bear looked especially distressed and began to growl in panic.

"Moron!" a chef shouted, smashing a piece of wood over the pirates' head. "We're gonna use the bear to track down Bard and Araly!"

"And Marco?" another chef asked.

"Maybe" the wrangler said. "He could just be plain lost, in which case he'll find his way back eventually. Someone should stay behind just in case he does decide to stop being an idiot and listen to the others."

"I'll stay" Birdman offered. And so the Buster crew was divided yet again, as was their building custom. The chefs and some well-armed guards took the bear as a mount and rode it through the woods as fast transport to find their captain with. More than half the crew stayed behind, under the expert vigilance of restful captain Maxwell.

Elsewhere still, in Harriet's cave, Araly worked to combine the potions her new tutor showed her to make glowing and glistening potions of extraordinary magical caliber. She had already perfected the most basic alchemy and was now writing her own dragon-skull design on a patch of black silk. It glowed gold with a natural border of platinum.

"Ms. Potecceli?" Araly asked politely. Harriet withdrew from one particular and peculiar carven hobble of the cave wall and walked over.

"Yes, deary?" she replied.

"What does this mixture do?" Araly asked.

"Oh, not much in particular" she replied. "I always found it odd that the pretty and more glamorous colors had less of an effect than the uglier and more bland ones. It's a very nice design, though. You're quite good at painting."

"Well, thank you" Araly said. "Still, I think we got off topic. What does this color do exactly?"

"It's a dampener" Harriet said plainly. "It dampens things, like anxiety or pain. Basically, it's the same as any good opiate or a couple mugs of rum, eh? Eee hee!" Harriet noticed that Araly was just smiling awkwardly, not laughing. "You're a pirate, right?"

"Well, I'm not a drinking pirate" Araly noted, "nor am I legal to do so anyway."

"Don't let that nonsense stop you" Harriet said, moving back to her curious hole in the cave. "I was getting twice as drunk as most men my age when I was _your_ age! Live a little."

"Well...I don't know" Araly said. She looked at her design, watched it glisten as it dried and threw it around her back. The colorful ooze cemented and sank deep into the fabric as she wore it tightly. The cloth she printed it on, black and familiarly smooth, was to be a part of Bard's new coat for cold weather she was designing and stitching together. Oddly, she felt so warm and cozy with the cowl wrapped around her back, she didn't want to take it off. It was a powerful enhancement indeed.

"Eee heeheehee!" Harriet cackled. "What a hit! What a fight! Oh, yeah, knock him in the kisser! POW!"

"Um, miss?" Araly said curiously, "what are you doing over there?"

"Come and see, come and see!" Harriet offered excitedly. "I have a whole network of Den Den Mushi's feeding me visual information all around the island! Those morons down there think these things are just snails and never bother to look at them differently. There's a mighty brawl going on between some blond-haired kid and-" That was enough info for Araly. She watched in shock at the screen and awe as she saw Bard, who was missing, fighting some man at least two heads taller and a whole tree wider than him!

"B-b-b...Bard!?" she stuttered. She would have otherwise yelled,but Harriet saw that the golden alchemy paint had seeped through her original fabric and was now carefully placed upon her back as a glowing tattoo.

_Oh my_ Harriet thought. _If she's as much of a stickler about drinking as she is about tattoos, she's in for a rude awakening..._


	59. The Heretic March pt8

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

So now Bard found himself faced down with an opponent with extremely upscaled power. Arthir grinned evilly as he shuffled from the crater he made and growled fiercely at Bard. The magic slip of paper in his hand continued to glow with its soft orange light.

_The end cometh_ Arthir manically thought at Bard. Bard even started backing away on his left leg out of caution.

_Something's up_ Bard noted. _He wasn't that strong. He was fast, granted, but not this strong. He's done something, but it's too subtle for me to follow what it is..._

"Heh" Zan laughed. "There's secret number one."

"Number one?" Rez repeated. "You mean there's more than one? What else is that bastard hiding?"

"Oh, who knows" Zan said. "Hey, Colleen, come on up here!"

"No thank you!" Colleen shouted back. She still hid behind cover out of shy fear while watching the fight from afar. _Something is definitely wrong. He's using that weird paper like before...I shouldn't interfere though. If those pirates get the wrong impression that I'm on their side, I may be betraying captain Ramone!_

Bard pressed on, crouching down deep on his left leg in preparation to jump forward. Arthir read the movement and made a mach-speed punch. He hit air, as Bard had controlled his jump to be slow and lofty. When he finally did get close enough to Arthir, he used and open-palm punch to his jaw and jarred his whole head.

_Just a little more_ Bard told himself. _Once one of his senses fails out he won't be able to fight me anymore, ridiculous speed or not!_ So, as he floated in the air, Bard delivered another straight, powerful slam between the eyes that pressed the blood from Arthir's nose in streams.

_ARG!_ Arthir shouted in exasperation. _I'll end ye yet!_ He clenched his magic paper hard, activating its super-speed properties and aimed inward at Bard. Using his still hurt right leg, Bard made a desperate Geppou out of the way and let Arthir smash his own face in. _YOU SON OF A HERRING MAID!!!_

"YO-HO!" Bard shouted in victory. He came down hard, landing on both feet, and a very slow shiver of pain crawled up his spine. A moment later he was grabbing his leg and shouting painfully up to the sky as he rolled around on his back. "AH! Bad idea! BAD!!!"

"Cut that out, moron!" Rez roared. "Act like a damn man and rub some dirt in that already!!!"

"Hmph" Zan scoffed.

"You cut the bull too, man" Rez lowed. "What's so 'Hmph' worthy here? You saying Bard's hiding something from the big guy?"

"Perhaps" Zan said, trying not to give anything away. "I'm just amused at how much pain he's in, considering how tough he is." Rez blinked in confusion, then turned with disbelief to the battle.

"No way!" Rez quietly exclaimed. _Bard...he's faking?_

"Oh, man!" Bard finally shouted. He still clutched his right knee with both hands, but he was back in a controlled state. He looked up and saw Arthir, face drenched with blood, charging once more at him with both arms thrown backwards.

"RAAAAARRR!!!" Arthir bellowed. Bard made a horrific gasp and raised his arms up to guard the coming smash.

_Tekkai!_ Bard mentally shouted. He was pushed down through the stone-path road and into the dirt by Arthir's double-fisted blast. It didn't stop, however, as the magic papers allowed him to ignore the insane burn in his arms and make a glaring rush of machine-gun punches directly at the defensive Bard.

"This is getting stupid, man" Rez said. "Faking or not, we need to help!"

"No" Zan said, stopping Rez with the burning end of his cigarette just an inch from his forehead. "We have to take our captains request seriously. This is an honorable fight. If we interfere it will be as bad as Bard losing his life. He's not a man like you or I. He grew up as a normal, albeit strong, child. He wasn't forced to kill for a living like me or turn to a life of piracy like you. His honor is more important as a fighter than it is as a pirate. Try to understand that..." Rez stopped on his own and relaxed. Taking out his broadsword-cannon, he stabbed it into the ground behind him and cocked the handle at a parallel angle to the ground. Then, he sat on it.

"Yeah" Rez added, taking off his bandanna and letting his hair freely blow in the cold wind. "He's a tough guy alright..."

_I may be tough_ Bard told himself as he got hammered into the ground, _but I have limits! I have to get out of this attack somehow! Maybe now is when I reveal my trump card!_ "Hrrrnnnggggh!" Bard grunted. Arthir's punches were finally lessened but not slowed. They still came with the power and speed to break the ground, but fewer of them came. Arthir was panting heavily and was only on one leg as a result of Bard's unrelenting power earlier.

_This..._ Arthir lamented, _this may be my end. If I am to die with regret, it is that I was unable to allow my brothers in arms to watch my final fight. I was hoping they could learn from this...gentleman..._ And so the fight was over. Now more air in his lungs, Arthir collapsed to the side and Bard was free to come up.

* * *

"Nice job, Bard!" Rez cheered. Zan held his cigarette in his mouth and applauded. Bard limped up out of the crater, a sure sign that he was indeed not faking the entire time, and fell down to his left knee to pant.

"Holy Hell!" Bard groaned. "That was intense! Where'd all that strength come from all of a sudden?"

"Bard!" Rez shouted. "Get over here!"

"Yeah, in a sec!"Bard answered. With the sun blocked by the swirling storm clouds overhead, Bard was unable to distinguish between the natural darkness and the black shadow that loomed over him.

"CAPTAIN!" Zan shouted with heedful alarm, "RUN!" Bard looked in shock at his assassin mate, then glanced quickly behind him. It seemed that Arthir was up again and smiling. This time it was a smile that complimented the dim twinkle in his eyes before: that of a heartless villain. Bard pushed on his knee and Soru'd to Rez and Zan, turning on his hand and stopping just before them. As the lightning flashed in the distance of the rainless sky and the thunder rolled forward, the boys could see what new horror they were dealing with.

"Hehehe..." the dark giant chuckled menacingly. "What the hell's goin' on 'round here???"

"Hey!" Bard happily noticed. "He dropped the accent!"

"That may not be good" Zan said, drawing his knives. Rez set his broadsword back to normal and propped it upon his shoulder. Colleen continued to observe from a distance, but now with a concerned hand to her mouth.

"Who're you guys?" Arthir asked. "Where'm I? Where's cell block 51?"

"Cell block?" Bard repeated curiously. "You're a Paladin, aren't you? Why would a holy warrior live in a prison?"

"Holy warrior!?" Arthir repeated mockingly. Then he burst out in very deep, very uncharacteristic laughter. "Who're you talkin's ta? I'm **Dark D'Leon!** I've murdered women bigger than you, blondy!"

"He has multiple personalities" Zan noted.

"Is this the right one, though?" Rez asked.

"It might be" Bard said. "The other one was kind of silly, I think."

"It seems the outside world has changed a bit in the last few years!" Dark announced, observing the archaic buildings and broken structures made of feeble wood and sticky sealing tree sap instead of normal concrete. Even the streets were build as if by some uneducated and shaky hands. A stone castle in the distance with a tattered Government flag fluttering at its peak tower. "The last thing I remember was gettin' drug through the halls from solitary and sittin' in some weird chair for 'therapy'. Where the crap is this place!?"

"Who knows?" Bard said, sitting with his legs crossed now. The boredom of prolonged conversations was getting to him at last.

"Oh yeah" Dark added. "Who's the reason I can't breath through my nose!?"

"Yo-ho" Bard said, raising his hand.

"Are you daft!?" Rez shouted. "He said he's a murderer, a prisoner! This guy's not gonna show you any honor like his other self did!"

"Then we won't either" Zan said. "Bard, perhaps it's time to do 'that'?" Bard blinked up at Zan for a second, not knowing what he was talking about. Then he placed his chin on his fist and thought for a moment about what 'that' was to him. "I'm the smart one, remember Captain? It's a little hard to fake something out with me." Then, Bard understood! He jumped up with a push from his hands and landed a yard ahead on his left leg. He let his right leg carefully slide back along the ground and posed with his left arm flat in front of him and his right arm flexing at head level. Both his hands were tensed like claws and a brash smile came across Bard's face.

"I should warn you" Bard said, alternating the position of his arms in a cat-scratching motion, "I know martial arts!"

"Really!?" Dark said moronically. "I should let'ya know, I've killed men with my bare hands and ripped apart the hides of sea kings! You ain't standing in my way, kid!"

"Yeah I am" Bard argued, as he was clearly standing in Dark's path. The foolish jokes of Bard just pissed Dark a little too much and he snapped.

"KILLING BLOW!" Dark shouted. He started running forward, despite his obvious cripple, and raised both arms up with hands clasped together. Unaware of the magical paper he held, he grasped them so tight the light literally whined out. Bard prepared and leaned on his left foot, hiding his plans with subtle movements that even Rez and Zan couldn't follow. "**CRUSHER DRIVER!!!**" With that, Dark sent his huge hands crashing down with sound-breaking speed! Having not expected such force so easily, his hands were badly bruised against the stone ground. Bard managed to dodge and stop all the way behind him by passing between his legs, and now prepared to attack from behind.

"Soru!" Bard shouted. Dark yanked his arms out and turned around in time to see Bard in mid-air, left leg spinning towards his side. "And, RANKYAKU!" A slicing kick to Dark's side. Arthir would have dodged it, but Dark took it at full force! More blood slivered out into the air and Dark's legs finally gave out, sending him head over heel into a nearby building. Bard landed on his left leg and posed once more, right leg up and folded in front and hands in a mantis position. Both angled up to the sky and wrists angled down with the fingers flatly pointing at the ground. "Told ya!"

"...ugh..." grunted Dark within the oddly huge and domed cabin. "Those moves. Those were...no doubt...Rokushiki...Grrrrrr!" There came a nasty stomping from the cabin, and then out crashed Dark in Arthir's body, now equipped with hastily thrown-on metal armor and a huge pole-axe. "I know now! You're with the damn CP 9 to get rid of me! WELL TOUGH DAMN LUCK, you DOG!" Bard blinked once in confusion, then again in terror. He saw the glow from Dark's hands as he raised up the long-handled ax far above his head. "Killing Blow: **DEATH CLEAVE!!!**"

"Yipe!" Bard shouted. The pole-ax came screaming down, shattering the air around it and breaking the ground cleanly in two chunks of rising land.

"Oh, crap!" Zan muttered.

"BARD!" Rez screamed. Colleen stood in the open, hands tightly gripped, biting her lip.

* * *

"Oh god!" Araly shouted. "BARD!"

"Calm down, deary" Harriet comforted, seeing tears brimming in the girl's eyes. "He's a fast bugger, right? Surely he got away!"

"I...I!" Araly stuttered. Even with the unknown effects of the tattoo on her back, she was still forced down to her knees and sobbed. "Why did we have to come here!? An island of criminals wearing disguises and fake names is still an island of criminals! That guy...he killed Bard!"

"You don't know that" Harriet said. Araly's sobbing slowly turned from cries of despair to growls hatred. She lowered her hands from her eyes and bared her glowing-white eyes and fangs of fury! "Eh...?"

"I won't let this happen!" Araly roared gutturally. She grabbed a bottle of volatile potion and some pieces of cloth and began speeding out the cave.

"Wait! What are you doing!?" Harriet called.

"I'm not gonna let Bard die in vain!" Araly answered. "If he's really dead, then I'm taking an eye for an eye! I...I'll KILL THAT GUY!!!"

"No!" Harriet said, waving her hand. "I mean, what are you doing going to help without a full arsenal of alchemy? Come back in and grab some more!" Araly was moved pleasantly by Harriet's words and nodded, keeping her serious face and twitching mouth as she ran back inside. _I suppose that color not only dampens emotions, but reason and civility when the time calls for it. Quite a dangerous concoction she brewed...She'd make a fine witch..._ Now with a sash full of corked bottles and pre-made cards of magic ink, Araly ran through the woods, following the Den Den Mushi's coordinates and her roaring woman's intuition.

_Dammit, Bard!_ She shouted internally. _If you're dead, I'm gonna beat the crap out of you!!!_


	60. The Heretic March Ending

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"Screw honor!" Rez shouted, drawing up his gunblades. "He needs help!" Zan equipped his knives and prepared to rush in as well.

"Wait!" Colleen called from the second story of a still intact building. "Don't do anything rash!"

"Or what!?" Rez shouted.

"What are you doing up there?" Zan asked.

"I went up to get a better view" Colleen shouted. "Bard's okay! He's just stuck!"

"Say what?" Rez uttered. He turned and saw, in the clearing dust, Bard down in the crater Darks' swing made. He caught the blade in his hands! However, Rez also noticed his twitching, injured leg. He couldn't stand on it for much longer, that was obvious.

"Eh?" Dark grunted. He raised up his polearm that Bard foolishly continued to grip and sneered down his smaller foe. "What's this? You caught it? No one's ever blocked my attacks! I should bite off that bad leg of your now!" Bard became openly shocked that Dark noticed his leg, which Dark took further advantage of. "Oh yes, that's a bad leg, I can tell. I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that you injured it hitting me at some point! Ah, the world's changed! Time was a fella would fight another guy and they'd remember the whole damn thing!"

"Eh?" Bard grunted. "Well, can't you remember it? I did hit you with my knee..."

"AHA!" Dark shouted. He picked the halberd up, reeled it over his head and lifted his forward leg off the ground. "I knew it! You sneaky bastard, you hit me! NO ONE ONE-UPS DARK D'LEON!!!" Dark made a powerful lunge forward and tossed the spear away, Bard of course still hanging to it, at the tree line. At the last second, Bard hopped off and rolled to a stop on his good, left leg.

"Dammit!" Bard cursed. "I've been found out!"

"How long have you been fightin' me at half-strength!?" Dark growled, already dashing and fast approaching the weak Bard. Bard tried his hardest to stand tall, but his weak knee made it hard, and he found himself dipping down often.

"Now's as good a time as any" Bard said. "I'll have to risk it all with this: my trump card!"

"Quit babbling and die!" Dark bellowed. He jumped up into the air and threw his arms out to his sides. "Killing Blow: **Body Presser!**"

"Rankyaku!" Bard shouted. He stomped down on his left leg, then as Dark descended intercepted the massive body with his right, pointing straight and true like a spear.

"Eh?" Rez grunted. The energy from Bard's blade-swinging kick finally shot through and the force of a battering ram piled into Dark's gut. Bard stayed in position, legs extended perfectly straight and his body curved up with his arms flexing and a grin glaring.

"Wha?" Dark groaned.

"Yeah," Bard happily droned, looking up through his eyelids at Dark looming above. "I was faking it the whole time!"

"EH!?!?" Rez roared.

"Knew it" Zan announced.

"Now, I think this fights over!" Bard declared. He hopped up with his left leg, planted it on Dark's gut and quickly made a powerful push to send Dark flying away. Bard's body straightened out like a washboard, and he quickly returned his flexibility to catch himself before his back hit the ground. As his palms touched dirt, he pushed up, got his legs squared, and raised his fists up to his head level. Dark landed finally, less elegantly on one fractured leg and one he thought was broken by the intense burning. Regardless, he stood on both.

"You're a whelp!" Dark shouted. "An insignificant flea on the back of the world's largest, hairy, cruel, rabid dog!"

"Eh?" Bard shouted across the distance.

"A single guy like you doesn't matter out there" Dark said, trying to bring Bard down. "You're nothing! In an instant, you'll be picked clean of your wealth and meat, left alone and dying for the circling vultures. It ain't fair, I tell ya! It just ain't FAIR! But that's life. You either get away with scavenging and making an honest life of crime for yourself or you get caught and die in the hot, hot sun. I should know! I used to like the sun until I nearly dried up in it! I was standing in it for so long, I thought I was immune! But I ain't! You get it!?"

"I really don't" Bard answered.

"No matter how high you stand" Dark finished, "you're never in a position where you can't get burnt. Moron! I'm trying to save your life here! Out there there's nothing but fire, and everything burns! EVERYTHING BUUUURNS!" At this point, reaching the limit of his sanity, Dark picked up a large chunk of the ground. Bard anticipated his movement and Soru'd his way across the field. He stopped a good ten steps away, then began taking those ten steps by crossing his feet over with each mighty tread.

"Grapvine-Step..." Bard began announcing. His steps became larger and planted harder as he approached his target. Dark's legs couldn't support the extra weight of the rock he held and his muscles wouldn't respond. He was stuck and his bulging eyes told everyone. "Tekkai-Rankyaku Combo..." At the last dramatic step, just before Dark's own feet, Bard jumped up with his left foot stepping deep to his right. Then, spinning slightly in mid-air, Bard's right leg mad ea blinding swipe at Dark's face, and Iron strong blade kick that Bard finished off with the simple action noun of "KICK!!!" Dark was totally out of commision and he lost more than half his teeth.

* * *

"Excellent job, captain!" Zan praised.

"Not bad" Rez said humbly. "You may make an honest pirate out of yourself yet. I'm really impressed." Bard just stood, tongue out and hand behind head with a very modest look on his face.

"Nah, it wasn't that cool" Bard insisted.

"Okay quit that" Rez demanded, threatening Bard's neck with a sharp finger. "Take your credit like a man, dammit."

"Uh, okay" Bard stuttered. "Yeah, I sure am bad-ass, right...gents?"

"It's a start" Zan said, lighting a cigarette. He saw Colleen was out of the building and shyly observed the monolithic stature of Bard at a safe distance. Bard waved to her and, in a fit of shyness, she fled back into the building only to peer discretely out of the door on the second story a few moments later.

"Who's that?" Bard asked, motioning towards Colleen.

"Captain" Zan seriously started, "I suggest we regroup with the crew. A very dangerous man was recently set free onto the island and is undoubtedly causing a lot of trouble in the village."

"Crap" Bard muttered.

"It's not all that bad" Rez said. "Most of those guards probably have it coming."

"No, Jedidiah and Emily are down there'"Bard said. "They can't protect themselves in the village, they're all too weak!"

"I take it you met some of those villagers captain?" Zan said. "Well, Stopping this particular guy would definitely be against our best interests. He's pretty infamous for escaping Impel Down under even the World Government's radar."

"Eh?" Bard grunted. "Impale Down? What's that?"

"You clueless bastard!" Rez hissed. "The Undersea prison! The Great Gaol, Impel Down! It's an inescapable, impenetrable fortress of hell! If you go there you die there!"

"Then how'd this guy escape?" Bard questioned. Zan took out his cigarette and blew a smoky breath.

"I concur" Zan said. "Perhaps we'll have to interrogate him...or one of his confidants..." Zan then turned his attention to the second story window Colleen was hanging out of. The other two boys joined him in staring Colleen down with fake, friendly smiles from a distance, all of them unaware that Dark was stirring and trying to get up behind them.

"You pieces of" Dark began, then coughed up a solid lump of blood. "I'll throttle all of ya!" Suddenly, from the northern entrance of the Paladin barracks encampment, in the direction of the noble housing, came a feint blaring of royal brass. The pirates and Dark behind them watched and listened closely as the trumpets came closer and closer, blaring out a single, repeating procession tune. Two lines of similarly dressed men carrying very long bugles marched with a troupe of eight men carrying a single, mobile throne. Behind them was a smaller throne carried by six men, and behind them was a cage that rolled along the ground with a distantly human figure bound head to foot in chains being pulled by twenty guards armed with spears.

"What the heck?" Bard inquired. Colleen looked over with fright and quiet hatred. A single man stepped out of line and opened a scroll of parchment before his face.

"Presenting" the herald cried "the honorable, noble, regal, distinguished King of the land of Lioncrest, Sir Rupert the Great! And, in attendance, his daughter Gretta the White!" The trumpeters blew a few notes of royalty,then tucked their instruments underarm and applauded as if by script they had to. Rupert raised a hand that motioned them to stop, and immediately they stopped. Dark made his presence known again with a loud, guttural growl. Bard snapped around before his crew mates did and glowered with shock.

"Dammit, he's still conscious?" Bard shouted.

"Are you serious?" Rez bellowed. "I thought you beat him into the ground, Bard!"

"I did!" Bard argued. "You were there! You saw it!"

"We didn't exactly count on his resilience" Zan said, drawing out a single knife on his hand and aiming it to the criminal.

"Ahem!" boomed the regal and righteous voice of King Rupert. All four men immediately snapped back around an gave their attention to the man. "You have fought well, outlanders! To best the holiest of our knights is a great accomplishment indeed. Although I wish not to admit our criminals any praise, I must commend you for making it so far! Bravo!" And as their kings clapped, the guards and trumpeters clapped as well. Bard just smiled with all his modesty, then glanced over at the unimpressed Rez and passive, smoking Zan.

"Ah, he wasn't so tough!" Bard said, snapping a thumb up with a hint of arrogance.

"Nicely done" Zan commended. Rez snickered briefly.

* * *

"Kururururu..." Growled the manic figure behind the thrones.

"Ah yes" Rupert said. "I am unaware of your intentions, but unfortunately for the good of my people, I must stop you from progressing past here to the castle. Therefore, I shall order a temporary ceasefire whilst you prepare yourselves! You each shall hold his own against my strongest and most dangerous knight, sir Reginald Drakengard!"

"Whomever survives" Gretta added in an equally demanding and somewhat booming voice "may attend a royal ball in my honor as a truly strong champion and guest of the island."

"HUH!?" Rupert blared. "Gretta, my darling daughter, what are you saying!? I never agreed to that!"

"I'm just adding some extra incentive for them, father" Gretta said. "In case they are the types who prefer a material award over simply leaving with their lives..." Rupert was at first angry, but when Gretta threw at him her adorable, glistening red eyes of innocence, he could only feel joy.

"Very well!" Rupert announced. "So sayeth my daughter, so sayeth I! Let this be a contest!"

"An on-the-spot change of heart" Zan mused. He took a drag from his cigarette and blew it out smoothly. "This place is getting weirder and weirder, captain."

"You!" Dark growled. He was ignoring Bard and his gang and was now marching directly past them, glaring daggers down at Rupert in his high and heavy chair. "I remember you! You said we'd wake up just fine! You two, you damn, godless madmen have killed us all! I don't even know who I am anymore!"

"What brashness thou hast!" a guard said in utter shock. "What the devil possessed good sir Arthir?" Rupert just glared him down.

"I'll kill you!" Dark cried. "Dammit, I'll KILL YOU ALL!!!" Suddenly, a sharp crack was heard at Dark's head. The finishing blow was delivered from behind and Dark's body fell for the last time to the ground. Mouth foaming and eyes pure white, his mind was now in an equal state of chaos rather than a total imbalance of continuum.

"What the hell!?" Rez shouted.

"He's here..." Zan said with dread. Colleen looked over, behind Bard and his group, and smiled shyly.

"...**Ggggggg**..." growled some horrid entity. A nerve clicked in Bard's head, foretelling some imminent dread and danger. He looked back and saw a long, thick, wriggling thing extending from the sleeve of some mystery man who stood in front of a cloud of insects. "It's been a while, jackass." The huge creature that cracked Dark in the back of the head emitted a terrible screech, then retreated instantly into the stranger's sleeve.

"Captain!" Colleen blurted.

"It's him again..." Rez growled. Still walking a short distance, Ramone finally arrived and squared his body with the villainous king he so long sought revenge on. He clutches his hand, gripping each finger one at a time, and growled ever louder at the group of guards and worthless instrumentals.

"I've been waiting on this moment for a whole damn year" Ramone growled. "It's time the Demon got his dues...right?" Rupert's lip tensed up with anger and Gretta, in all her innocence, stared wide-mouthed at Ramone. Now the original Heretic was here, and the battle was truly about to begin.


	61. Zan vs Drakengard

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

A Regal Tournament is underway! The Buster boys stood in a neat line facing down the king at the opposite end of the court. For safety sake, the arena for the successive duels was moved right in front of the magnificent, old palace at the peak of the island's plateau. King Rupert and his daughter Gretta sat at the base of the palace steps with guards forming a wall all around the lavish courtyard. The pirates, including Colleen hiding behind Ramone's coat, stood at the gate of the palace yard, preparing and deciding on the fighting order.

"Who wants to fight first?" Rez asked. Bard quickly shot his hand up. Rez turned around and saw Ramone also had his hand up with his other arm crossed. "Well, that won't work."

"Why don't we leave it up to chance?" Zan offered.

"Alright" Bard agreed, hopping over. "Rez, get out your gun!"

"Not that kind of chance, moron!" Rez growled. "Let's do rock-paper-scissors."

"It may get tricky with five people" Zan said.

"She ain't fighting" Ramone said. "She already decided that."

"Then that'll be easier" Bard said. "Alright guy, come over here and play, or you go last!"

"That's fine" Ramone said. "I'd rather watch you guys get your asses handed to you than spoil the fun. I've waited well over a year to kill these bastards, a few more minutes won't kill me..."

"Okay then" Bard said. "Guys, hands in!" Rez, Zan and Bard huddled together and started their game to decide who would go first. The first time was a tie, somehow.

"What the hell!?" Rez complained.

"I see what happened" Zan remarked. "I picked scissors because I symbolize them with my weapons, Bard picked rock because he likes making fists, and you picked paper because...uh...you're flimsy in competition."

"Why don't you just go first, jackass?" Rez growled. "Go first and die so I don't have to listen to your ugly voice anymore..." Bard just laughed. Zan, however, took the invitation and pulled out a cigarette with his knives. He started forward, lit it, and tossed his lighter back which Bard instinctively caught.

"Don't break that, Captain" Zan called. "It's my only one." Bard looked at the lighter with a sense of curiosity, then a dignified grin crossed his face.

"You got it, pal" Bard said with a wink and a positive thumb up.

"Gimme a damn break" Rez lowed. Ramone quietly stood observing the pirates and making his judgments.

_They're fools_ he told himself. _Their captain seems a little rough. Maybe a dose of reality can toughen him up here today..._

"Do your best, Mr. Zan" Colleen whispered. Ramone slowly motioned to turn at her, but the snapped his waist and head around at her.

"HEY!" he gruffed, "He can't hear you if you whisper! Shout it out already!" Colleen bit her lip and worked up the nerve at her captain's command, and finally took in a large breath of air.

"Do your best, Mr. Zan!!!" she shouted across the court. Zan nodded at her with the back of his head and prepared for his fight. His feet spread out past his shoulders, his knees were locked forward, and both his arms were up with blades facing point-out. As a safety measure, he made sure his foot-blades worked as well with a very quick and swift press at each heel. They worked fine.

"Release him" King Rupert said to one of his guards. The guard nodded and walked over to the snarling and smiling Drakengard under heavy chains. He undid one, and the prisoner took the hint to simply burst through them all and come out ready to fight.

"Kurururu..." Drakengard laughed. He was clad from the neck down in fantastic, ocean-green scale armor with yellowed spikes at his shoulders, elbows and knee plates. On his back was a cape of oceanic blue that had a gleaming shine even in the dampened sunlight. The storm clouds were breaking, as no rain had hit the island and only managed to stir up the seas. The land was now about to be stirred by this man. "You've been called out by the king" Drakengard declared. "Therefore, I shall kill you in his honor!"

"Same" Zan said calmly. "You called me out, so as an assassin with no want or care for honor, I'll kill you."

"The let us proceed" Drakengard said, grabbing and twirling a huge and serrated halberd "with this mutual contract of death!" He stopped spinning it and held it, like a broadsword, pointing at the sky above Zan's head. One last muffled roll of thunder was heard far, far away.

* * *

Araly went sprinting through the woods a few minutes earlier. She was adamant on finding and helping Bard and the boys in any way possible. She had enough explosive ink parchments and potions to start a small war somewhere and the pirate within her was intent on using them.

"How do I get out of here!?" Araly asked herself. She stopped to breathe for a short while and looked around for a sign of the civilization she looked for. Suddenly she heard the blaring of regal trumpets past the tree line. She ran toward the noise and soon saw the open sky and broken grounds that Bard fought on. She was relieved to see that he was fine, but worried about the marching line of guards that approached.

_What's going on now?_ Araly asked herself. She was, at first, very tempted to ump out and announce herself, but upon seeing the maniacal figure caged behind the throne of the most royal figure present, she withdrew her notions of heroism to continue hiding. _What can I do now? There's no way I'll be able to take on all those guards with just some cloth and ink. I should...wait. Yeah. I'm a pirate, but that doesn't mean I should be rambunctious like those guys are. There's nothing wrong with biding my time._

And so Araly found herself stalking through the more regal and noble alleys of the upper-class town just before the castle, following the marching procession of soldiers with the pirates in tow. She watched from behind the houses and decorative bushes in people's yards, wondering all the while why she hadn't been spotted yet.

"Does anyone even live in these houses?" Araly asked herself. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she finally crawled over and looked into a window. There was nothing inside, not even furniture, The houses were just large, empty shells. "This must be part of that...experiment. These are dummy houses to confuse the prisoners and other brainwashed people...wow, that sounds pretty stupid now that I'm really saying it." Regardless, she took what opportunity she could. She continued following Bard and the pirates until they passed through a large gate that led to a fenced in area in front of the castle. She looked for the nearest abandoned house that would be tall enough to observe from and climbed it from the back. From the top of the blue-roofed house she could see the battles to come.

"Oh please" Araly prayed, "don't let anything stupid happen! I'm exhausted!" From on her roof she saw Zan walking forward to fight a horrible man with a spiteful-looking halberd. She took out a piece of paper with two holes cut in it and shiny blue ink around them. "Ink-powered binoculars. These'll help." She observed the fight, keeping Zan in focus most of the time.

As the combat started, Zan chose not to use his powers unless desperate. Therefore, he focused on his timing and footwork to avoid the swings of Drakengard's halberd. Thankfully, the berserk and crazy man only chose to swing down in huge, powerful strokes like a sword. Zan jumped to and fro, approaching with his hands at his sides.

"You're pretty brutal with that" Zan said. Drakengard ignored him and continued shouting with each swing. Zan eventually got close enough to attack and crouched down low. Then, with both hands, he punched his blades into his enemy's armored stomach. Drakengard ignored it and kicked him away with the spike of his scaled boot. Zan managed to land on his feet but got the wind knocked out of him. Drakengard quickly approached and gave a roar as he swung down hard. Zan evaded again and started forward. He jumped up, spun in the air and kicked with his bladed foot at Drakengard's unguarded neck. In an act of inhuman speed, Drakengard snapped his neck around and caught Zan's foot knife in his teeth. "What!?" Zan grunted. Drakengard then gnashed Zan around a bit and broke the knife.

"Kururu!" Drakengard growled, spitting the knife straight into the solid stone ground. "What fight is this?"

"Not a comfortable one" Zan said. He landed on his feet and one hand, then started dashing forward.

"Indeed!" Drakengard growled. He took his halberd up with his hands facing inward and started stabbing. Zan had to work more now to dodge, as the pull back from each stab was just as dangerous as the stab itself.

_He's just keeping me away_ Zan said. _However, I doubt he anticipates my moves. He's just blocking with his armor and hoping to catch my attacks. Time to work my angle properly..._ "LOOK!" Zan shouted, pointing to the sky. His ploy worked on the maniac and he looked up to the sky with his brows raised. Zan speedily circled around to his back. Drakengard noticed the trick and came out of his curious daze, swinging his halberd to try and catch Zan. "Useless" Zan said from behind. He got a foothold in the crease between Drakengard's back and hip in the armor and climbed up to stab him in the back of the neck.

"It's never useless" Drakengard growled. He attempted to snap his head around the whole way, but realized that he couldn't. Zan wound up with his hand raised high overhead and the King gripped the edges of his chair in dread. Drakengard gave one last effort to shoo away his enemy by swatting him with the blunt edge of his halberd, but Zan was prepared. He activated his power and phased through it, which resulted in Drakengard smashing the back of his head and getting dizzy while Zan stepped up on his head and kicked him back a step.

"EH!?" Rupert shouted in disbelief. The other guards were quite perplexed by the happening as well. Zan landed and turned his head rather than his body with both arms stretched out at Drakengard.

"Unbelievable!" a guard exclaimed. "Who would have thought so many demons would congregate upon our peaceful land!?" Gretta, the king's daughter, was amazed. He eyes stopped watching the fight and started focusing admiringly on Zan.

"Kurururu..." Drakengard chuckled menacingly, "I'll carve you into bullion chunklets for my soup, maggot!"

"Ew" Zan replied. "You eat chunky soup?"

"Of course!" Drakengard announced. "It be the only soup worth eating!!!"

"..." Ramone observed, eyebrow twitching in anger.


	62. Rez vs Drakengard

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"Oh thank god" Araly said with a huge sigh. "But, now that Zan's used up his trump card, he can't surprise the enemy with his power! How can he fight now?"

"I guess I'm screwed" Zan said. "I may as well wear him down while I can to make it easier on Bard and Rez." Zan crossed the tips of his blades and swiped them apart. He knocked out sparks with his motion and began sprinting forward with his head down. Drakengard would have none of it. He took his spear in both hands and began wildly thrusting all around. The air itself began to become unstable, and Zan could only escape an otherwise deadly attack by sliding too far into Drakengard's range for his spear to work.

_His polearm can keep me far away_ Zan told himself. _However, if I get close, the spikes on his armor can easily get me. I need to find a blind spot in his range and attack from there. It won't be easy, but I think I can do it._

"Stopping in the middle of a fight?" Drakengard lowed. He suddenly appeared just in front of Zan, coming dangerously close with his spiked knee guard. Zan jumped back, narrowly avoiding a knee-kick. Zan back flipped onto his feet, but realized that he was in perfect position for Drakengard's polearm.

"Crap!" Zan shouted. He tried to make a jump, but the serrated, bloody edge of the weapon was just about to lop off his foot from the tendon down. Zan used his powers as much as he could, but somehow he still felt some pain against the inside of his leg. As he landed, he found it hard to balance all of a sudden. He looked down and saw that his foot was actually bent.

"Demons hate salt" Drakengard said. Zan's face became cautiously fearful just then. "Kururu. I have faced your kind before. That man over there, he knows me well enough! All my equipment, from this armor of a mighty sea-best to my mighty halberd are coated and cured in fresh sea salt!"

"Dammit" Zan said. He kicked his foot into the ground and snapped it painfully back into place. He only winced at the pain and looked up. Drakengard was holding his halberd up high over his head, getting ready for another nasty swing. Zan desperately rushed in and prepared to dodge the coming slash. Drakengard stepped forward and started bringing his weapon down in a horizontal swipe. Zan saw it and ducked down on all fours, digging his blade points into the ground. The force blew up a strong gust that stunned Zan for a moment, which was enough time for Drakengard to stomp down on Zan's back. He couldn't phase through it, so he just let the hit come and hoped he could get up afterwards.

He tried, but the growling laughter of 'KURURURURURU!!!!" was too intimidating. Many more, super fast stomps came straight onto Zan's spine.

"Roll outta there Zan!" Rez called.

"Dammit" Bard said, staring in shock over not being able to help. "He can't move!" Drakengard continued madly stomping with his one strong, tree-sized leg until Zan's entire body decided to stomp moving entirely. Then he spun his halberd overhead and threw it into the ground, just barely missing Zan's body by a few inches.

"You are weak" Drakengard said. He picked Zan up by the back of his neck and held him at eye-to-eye level. Zan's feet dangled helplessly just barely an inch off the round. "Just look at you. So scrawny and limp. What kind of warrior has a body like yours!?" Drakengard reeled back his fist and punched Zan in the gut. Zan coughed and woke up. He tried his hardest to activate his powers but it felt like he was drowning in the salty grip of his foe. Drakengard started delivering haymaker punches all over Zan's body, from his face to his legs even. Lacerations started appearing under Zan's clothes and on his exposed chest from the force of those punches and his left eye was swelled up.

"CUT IT OUT!" Bard bellowed. Drakengard, grinning madly, looked over and dropped Zan. As he fell, Drakengard added the ultimate insult to injury and kicked him all the way over to the other pirates. Ramone just watch the body limply arc through the air almost straight into Bard's arms. "I guess you're done for now, Zan."

"Sorry...captain..." Zan weakly said. He was bleeding from the mouth, from the head, and his ribs looked pretty messed up as well. Bard very slowly and carefully laid him down. "He...he knows how to fight. H can control the range...at will. Be careful. Staying away...might not work. He could throw that thing if he wanted."

"Quit talking" Bard ordered.

"His armor won't break easily, either" Zan desperately reported. He wheezed and coughed painfully, so much so that even Rez became worried and walked to his side. "Rez, maybe you can..." Bard suddenly reeled his arm up and smashed his powerful elbow into Zan's diaphragm. The air rushed from his lungs and knocked him completely out. Rez was mortified and looked at Bard, his captain, with a mouth gaping to the ground.

"Talking will only make it worse" Bard said in all seriousness.

"And elbowing him is BETTER!?" Rez shouted. Bard got up and stretched his shoulders.

"Rez" Bard began, "I'm far too pissed off right now to fight clearly. I need you to get in there, okay? Do whatever you have to, even kill him if you want. Zan's wounds need treatment immediately." Rez was reluctant to confirm to the order, but seeing the crumpled pile that was his 'friend' gave him a sense of drive. He tightened his headband, drew out his twin guns and spun them around on his fingers.

* * *

"Oh no" Araly gasped. "Zan...poor Zan. Please let him survive..." After a few seconds of praying she suddenly realized something. "Wait a second, why am I here? I have tons of medical potions and bandages with me now! I need to get down there!"

"Wonderful show!" King Rupert said with a cheery grin. "Just wonderful! For a second I had really lost faith, you know! Mighty fine! What do you say, daughter?" Rupert looked over at his daughter. She was in a fetal position, biting her knees and gripping her legs tight to her chest out of...some emotion. Possibly distress?

_Oh, Mr. Demon_ she internally sobbed, _please live! I...I need to speak to you! I want to know you! You look so much more welcoming than that other one! Please...if there is a just god, let that demon-man live!!!_

"I guess it's my turn now" Rez said. He stopped his guns and held them both out for every uneducated mind to behold. "They're cool, right? These guns are the absolute pride of my homeland in the South Blue. Not single-shot guns and not automatic guns either. These are marvels of the most super-technological gunsmiths in the world. These are my 'Semi-Automatic Hell Cats!' Nice ta meet'cha!!!"

"What manner of madness be they?" Drakengard lowed with a grin. Rez smirked hotly and twirled them once more before shooting. The loud bang was mistaken for surprising thunder by most of the guards, although the skies were nearly clear again. Two holes that bore down just above the skin suddenly appeared on both of Drakengard's shoulder pads. Rez spun his gunblades around fashionably and sheathed them at once.

"That's some tough armor" Rez said patronizingly. "Normally a gun wouldn't scratch a real Sea King's armor. Preserving the skin is a full-time job, too. I'm guessing you just let that stuff dry in the sun or something, right? Killed off all the actual armor tissues and left you with shiny leather. I'm not a demon like Zan, so your armor will just be an annoyance rather than a total obstacle to me! You're outmatched starting right now!" Rez, in a blinding and practically unseen movement, unsheathed and shot with his right gun three times. One each to the shin, the upper leg, and the guarded knuckles of Drakegard's body. The two in his leg actually stung his skin and the one at his knuckle was stopped by the now broken spike from the armor.

"Heh!" Rez laughed. Now that the fight was going his way, he was thoroughly enjoying himself. He started spinning his gunblades around on his fingers and prepared to charge. "Get ready! I'm a master duelist! My ideal range is anywhere and everywhere!" Rez blasted forward and Drakengard raised his polearm. He would swipe as Rez approached. "That's freakin' useless, jerk!" Rez called. He jumped up and drew his arms back. He stopped his blades and held them like blades to chop down at Drakengard's chest. The halberd came first and forced Rez to block with both weapons. He caught the menacing saw between the serrated blade grooves and held fast. Then, the strong force brought him back to the ground.

"I'll crush you with my weapon!" Drakengard yelled. Rez smiled under the crushing weight of the halberd. He shot the halberd into shrapnel that flew through the air like dust. Drakengard kept grinning madly, but raised an eyebrow in confusion. "...huh..."

"Now suffer!" Rez yelled. He pushed away the broken halberd and swung his blades down. Drakengard retreated, forgetting the range advantage Rez had, and got shot twice in the chest.

_This cannot go on anymore!_ Drakengard decided. Rez came forward and started stabbing into the bullet holes he had just made. Eventually he pierced all the way through the armor and made needle-sized wounds in Drakengard's chest.

"Get ready for hell!" Rez said. In a flash he sheathed his blades and his hands were gripped hard on the handle of the sword on his back. "This is the 'Hell Tiger!!!'" Rez took a step, lurched forward, and made a powerful swing with his huge sword that carved apart the torso of Drakengard's armor. Just before the sword hit the ground, Rez steadied the blade and brought it back up, aiming down the edge with the cannon aimed at Drakengard's exposed body.

"Oh no!" Rupert shouted.

"**Wrath of Heaven!**" Rez shot, point-blank, directly into Drakengard's chest. He was blown back by the explosion and left a trail of white smoke as he flew into the tree line far away. The guards all shared a synchronized scream of terror. Even the king's face was twisted with fear.

"HELL YEAH!" Bard shouted. "That's how the Buster Pirates deal with problems! We blow them up!"

"Shut up!" Rez shouted back. "I don't want you speaking on the crew's behalf so freely! He's not even dead yet!" Ramone had finally given into temptation and had his army of burrowing ants dig him a hill to sit on that Colleen sat behind.

"Hey" Ramone said, "don't you wanna watch anymore? Too much gore for ya?"

"It won't matter" Colleen said. "Once you start to fight, it won't matter what they do. You'll win."

"You're damn right!" Ramone grumbled.

"Don't be so hasty" Bard said, almost instantly appearing behind him. Ramone looked over his shoulder with a more angry than curious face. "Who says I'm not fighting him next?"

"Who says I won't win!?" Rez bellowed. He loaded a non-lethal, small metal bullet into his gun and shot Bard right on the butt. Bard was taken by surprise and fell over. "Just calm the hell down, man!" Rez felt a chilling shock all over his back. He turned and saw Drakengard stalking towards him with his head down and mouth grinning madly. "Crap, you're kidding me!"

"Kururururu..." Drakengard growled. His chest was smoking but unmoved. His armor was torn apart at the torso but it stayed strong on the rest of his body. His greasy hair was draped over his face so that only the gleaming white of his teeth and eyes could be seen. Rez hopped back quickly and equipped his twin gunblades. "My, my, my...You people are **iiiiiinterestiiiiing!**" Rez prepared for the worst, and the worst stared him down eagerly.


	63. Drakengard out of Comission

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Araly was still sprinting from point A to Z in a desperate dash to hopefully cure her assassin ally of his debilitating ails. She already had out her runed bandages and glowing potions, ready to treat anything from a fracture to malaria. Although her head was bobbing up and down out of her exhaustion, she continued to run forward. Unfortunately, there were guards stationed at the iron gates to the castle courtyard that blocked Araly from progressing.

"Shoot" Araly said, totally out of breath. "I guess they've seen me by now. Odd they aren't trying to stop me. Oh well." Araly retrieved two papers with glowing glyphs of deep red. "I'll take care of them." She threw the cards, unaware that the guards were sleeping standing up, and blew them both away with loud booms that caught the crowd's attention within the gates. The battle took a pause as everyone turned to the gates as they were blow open by a cloud of red smoke. Araly came coughing out of the cloud and ran over to the pirate's side to catch her breath.

"Araly!" Bard shouted happily. "You're okay!!! How'd you make those explosions?"

"Zan's hurt" she said between breaths. "How much have you helped him so far?"

"Eh?" Bard grunted. "Um, well, I didn't have any real stuff to use, so I just...left him alone."

"He punched him" Rez called.

"Well, no worries" Araly said, kneeling down to Zan's broken and battered body. "Now that I'm here, I can help. I brought supplies."

"Wait" Bard said, "where'd you come from, anyway?"

"Wait" Gretta said at her throne, now very curious as to what was going on over at the pirate group. "Who is that? What is she doing to that man?"

"This isn't fair!" Rupert demanded. "No one ever said they could have reinforcements in mid battle! Guards, go and seize that intruder!"

"Yes, my lord!" the guards shouted.

"How dare she!" Gretta growled. She was glaring through a pair of telescopic spectacles as Araly went to work bandaging and fixing Zan. "She...she is touching that demon-man!"

"So she is not a fighter?" Rupert said, eavesdropping on his daughter. "Then that will make her capture much easier."

"Enough stalling!" Drakengard called. Rez spun his gunblades around on his fingers and readied himself for an opening. In the circle of moving guards in the very open courtyard, Rez could see a single environmental advantage. There was a monument of some random, faceless man holding a sword. The wrist on the sculpture looked particularly eroded from the heavy weight of the stone sword it held for who knows how long. That was it.

_I need to lure him under that statue and shoot at the wrist_ Rez planned. _This guy isn't too smart, so he should fall for it. I'll need to plan this as I go, though, because I'm sure he isn't above improvising._ Drakengard reached the edge of his patience and dug his hands into the ground. Drakengard showed everyone his version of 'improvise' by ripping up a chunk of ground and turning towards Rez. _Crap. Didn't really count on that._ Rez started running, trying to get out of his effective range. Drakengard threw the rock with a grunt at Rez. Once Rez saw the rubble in the air he immediately stared running at it and slid under it before it could get too close to him.

"Rock's can't change course in the air" Rez noted. "However, neither can my bullets. I guess that's the main, striking similarity between those two projectiles, so in that regard we're even."

"Hngh" Drakengard grunted. "Is that so? Well, I can think of many regards where we are _not_ quite even. Would you like to see!?" Drakengard started running at Rez, which he had anticipated with glee. Now Rez could start back-peddling towards the statue and trap his foe. However, yet another thing Rez failed to account was his opponent's unbearable strength. With each powerful stomp Drakengard delivered to the ground in his dash he shook the earth and made it hard for Rez to run without nearly tripping.

_I need to switch up my timing in my feet_ Rez told himself. He started stepping out of turn with Drakengard, and the ground shakes ceased to bother him. He stepped lively towards the statue with Drakengard closing fast.

"What will you do now!?" Drakengard shouted.

"How 'bout this!?" Rez shouted back. He turned in the air and shot thrice at Drakengard. That emptied the clip in his gun and he was force to use it as a normal weapon. The bullets just skimmed past his head and impacted with his torn armor, forcing back his right arm. As Rez prepared to swing it, Drakengard caught and blocked it with the taloned section of his left arm. Rez grimaced as he flew threw the air and, eventually, into the base of the statue. Drakengard tossed the gunblade up and hit it right on the wrist of the statue that Rez wanted to shoot down.

_You idiot!_ Rez internally smirked. _You've done half my work for me! _Rez waited for Drakengard to get close enough, spun his gunblade to face upwards, and slammed the hammer back. "Bye, dude" Rez said with a wink. Drakengard smiled slightly less, and looked up. He became instantly aware of the trouble he was in. Rez shot his other gunblade which sliced through the stone and sent the stone arm and sword down onto Drakengard's head. Drakengard's body, likewise, fell to the ground with a loud thud.

"HELLS YEAH!" Rez bellowed. His gunblade came spinning down and sheathed itself perfectly in its holster. Rez spun the other one and sheathed it just the same, then started walking away. It seemed that Drakengard was defeated.

* * *

"Shouldn't we help?" Colleen whispered timidly.

"It's there problem" Ramone decided. "Just stay outta it." The 'problem' was that the guards were here and charging at the calm and busy Araly. Bard took it upon himself to defend her while she worked her magical cloth around Zan's injured body. Bard was, at the moment, staring them all down as they formed a wide circle around him.

"Be careful, men" a leading guard warned. "These demons be tricky beasts!"

"I'm not a demon" Bard said. "I'm just a martial artist."

"What kind of hellish arts hath thou married then!?" a guard shouted out.

"I'm not talking to you guys anymore" Bard growled "because it's too much of a hassle for me to understand you. Just shut up and fight me!"

"Don't provoke them, Bard" Araly said, focusing physically on her task at hand. "Just beat them up and make them go away already."

"I can do that!" Bard said. He raised up a leg and drew it back like a blade. "Rankyaku!" then he snapped it forward and downed a whole line of guards with one sweeping, bladed kick wave. The guards all flew back through the air, letting go of their weapons as they flew of course. "Heh!" Bard laughed. He flipped over onto his hands and began spinning with his legs parallel to the ground. The faster he spun the more the air and dust from the ground started kicking up away from him. Ramone, sensing danger, ducked close to the ground to avoid an obvious attack.

_Now then _Bard though while spinning, _what's a cool name for this attack? Something at least a little significant. Let's see, they usually fly really far when I use this attack and I always feel like saying 'have a nice trip!' as they do. That and the normal motion is kind of a tripping kick motion, and Rankyaku is a cutting attack...I got it!_

"Rankyaku!" Bard undulated into the air.

"Don't let him!" a guard shouted. "Charge at him now whilst we have the chance!" The guards all roared and charged the defenseless Bard just as he was finishing announcing his attack.

"**Razor Trip!**" A halo of invisible, slicing energy ripped through the air and hit everything around him. The wave even traveled far enough that Rez had to instinctively block it with his huge sword and got knocked back. He dug the sword into the ground and braced himself while the powerful wave continued through the air. It stopped just short of a line of guards that was ready to receive the blow on their king's behalf.

With his attack over, Bard slowed down his spin and flipped back onto his feet. Then he fell on his back and stayed there with his eyes spinning in dizzy spirals, gawking into the sky. "Guaaaahhh..." he groaned. "That...maybe, might have been a bit overkill on my part."

"Oh never" Ramone shouted sarcastically. He was up and brushing himself off of the dirt from the anthill that got blasted onto him under the pressure of the air Bard had kicked up. Colleen was fine and dirtless, but her hair was greatly frazzled and stuck out in all directions.

"Good job Bard' Araly mocked. "You only dirtied about _half_ the bandages I just placed! Now I have to start over again on his whole left side."

"Ah, he'll be fine" Bard weakly argued. He sat up and placed his hands on the ground for balance.

"You're an idiot" Rez said, arriving with a mighty stride of victory and his broadsword holstered behind him. "But, you're a damn strong idiot. I'm glad you're on my side."

"Our side" Araly corrected.

"Right" Rez said, "our si-EH!? When'd you get here girly?"

"My name's Araly, Rezland" Araly reminded passively.

"Ah, sorry" Rez apologized. "Anyway, it looks like we've won for now! I guess this means we get dinner in the palace tonight!"

"Food!" Bard cheered.

"If you won" Ramone began, "why hasn't your victory been announced?" The Buster pirates looked curiously at Ramone, then looked back over across the field. Drakengard, somehow, was stirring and rubbing the back of his head where the stone sword had struck him. Bard, Rez, Araly and Rupert's jaws dropped in unison.

* * *

"Uh" King Rupert grunted. A servant came over quickly and raised his huge jaw back up in its normal place. "I...I'm not sure how, but I'm glad."

"I expected as much out of him" Gretta said. "Still, the rules are fairly flimsy in their initial presentation. He has yet to be defeated, and therefore we have yet to declare a proper winner. In the meantime, I wish to go and confer with the outlanders."

"Wait a moment!" Rupert demanded, stopping Gretta preemptively from leaving her throne. "My daughter, as your father, I fear far too much for your safety to allow you to go over unescorted. Please, take a legion or two of guards with you."

"I don't need them" Gretta calmly argued. "They'll only slow me down. Look father, I have my bow and arrows on my back. If absolutely necessary I can defend myself. I just wish to make sure these...simple outsiders are aware of the rules I have set for this tournament."

"What rules?" the king asked. "I thought they would be done once the battle was finished. Did I mishear something?"

"I thought of new rules while they were fighting" Gretta said. She brushed past her father's huge shoulder and started walking across the yard. Drakengard was still incapacitated for the moment and could do nothing more than wonder intently where and why he was.

"Hey look" Bard declared. "Some girl is coming this way."

"Gggggg..." Ramone growled apathetically. "She must be the princess or something."

"I..I think she is..." Collen timidly agreed. Gretta finally reached the circular area where the bodies of guards were blown from and stood very regally with her hands at her sides.

"How do you do" she greeted politely. "I am princess Gretta Lioncrest. I arranged for this fight to happen so I could observe you all and determine some personal information based on your fighting skills. I am not an idiot, so please don't assume that I am one right now."

"Alright" the super non-judgmental Bard agreed.

"I have made some changes in the rules" Gretta began. "They are as follows..."


	64. Gretta Changes the Game

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"Please listen" Gretta said to the gathered pirates, "as I hate to repeat myself." Her overall demeanor made Araly and Colleen uncomfortable, mainly because she held her bow with an arrow on the string, ready to pull back and fire in an instant. "My father is forcing me to change my rules, as he is paranoid about visitors in his castle. I am not. I know that you are all reasonable men and women with the possible exception of you, Mr. Cervantes." Ramone glanced over from his place in space and promptly went back to ignoring her. She blushed internally.

"Firstly" Gretta began "I have ruled that the newcomer and the apparent bystander _must_ fight, as you are on the side of the other outsiders."

"I assume you mean us?" Araly said, pointing at Colleen as well.

"That's correct" Gretta affirmed.

"Well, will we get weapons?" Araly asked. "I know she has a...thing on her arm, but all I've got are cards and scarfs. I can't take down that freak over there with clothes!"

"Drakengard has been deemed unable to fight" Gretta said. Rez pumped his arms in victory and let out a happy grunt. "The ones who were responsible for defeating him, Sir Rezland and Sir Demon will be taken inside to observe the fight and get medical treatment. Especially Sir Demon."

"Demon?" Bard asked. "You mean Zan? He isn't a demon, he's an assassin."

"No talking" Gretta warned, aiming at Bard head. He gulped and kept quiet until Gretta lowered the bow. "Sir Demon was badly injured fighting Sir Drakengard. He will be taken to the infirmary and looked after by the nurses and priests inside. I will tell them that he isn't a demon so they won't kill him themselves."

"Okay" Rez began, standing up, "this is sounding less and less appealing by the sentence. I'm staying with Zan while he's in there. I don't trust a single thing that's going on here."

_As well you shouldn't_ Araly thought. She was still the only one in the group, with the possible exceptions of Colleen and Ramone, that knew the secret behind the inhabitants of the island.

"Fine, I don't care" Gretta said. "Just don't you dare worsen his condition. Sir Zan is in terrible shape and you have only yourself to blame for not going first. I'm sure Sir Zan could have cleaned up the mess you tried to make without trying."

"Grr..." Rez growled. _What's with the crazy bias this chick has? Zan gets treated like a prince and I'm just a dog? I hate her already..._

The distrust didn't end there, either. Zan was barely conscious and twitched with disapproval using his metal-pierced eyebrow. Bard kept a fist thoughtfully propped below his chin and deliberated on the matter that Gretta was offering. Ramone was pissed and growled constantly.

"What kind of bitch" Ramone began suddenly "thinks she can just order people like me around?"

"C-calm down, Captain" Colleen whispered. Ramone kicked away and started to leave.

"I ain't taking this kind of crap, Colleen" Ramone said. "If we're fightin' for honor then hell with it. I don't give a damn about my honor, I'm a damn pirate, dammit! Ggggggg......"

"I understand your hatred" Gretta said. "I was hoping that allowing you to beat up my father as the final match would be proper vengeance." Ramone immediately stopped upon hearing that. "Didn't I mention? You and the blond-haired sir will fight my father in a more casual duel. The Ladies shall fight our finest personal, royal guard, Sir Edmund the White."

"We have to fight a knight!?" Araly said in shock. "Doesn't that seem a bit unfair? I mean, Rez and Zan just had to fight a prisoner-guy, right?"

"That guy was just barely human, Araly" Rez pointed out. "Trust me, you're getting the better end of the stick here. A knight might actually go easy enough on you for you to get an edge in."

"But I'm a pirate!" Araly said. "I want just as much of a fight as you guys do! I just want it to be proportionate to my actual strength!"

"Sewing?" Bard said. Araly squinted her eyes in distaste but technically he gave a right answer, so she couldn't chide him.

"I'm willing to fight the knight" Colleen said shyly, "but a two on one match with both of us might not be fair, right?"

"Perhaps" Gretta said. She tilted her head a bit to think and came up with an alternate solution. "My castle's head seamstress, Miss Morgan, can be quite capable in battle. Perhaps if we can arrange some proper equipment out here, you can fight with her?"

"I think that'd be a little better" Araly admitted. "Sorry Colleen, but can you handle a knight by yourself?" Colleen, to shy to speak to a girl she hadn't properly met before, just nodded and shied away behind Ramone's coat.

"They way you're talkin'" Ramone began, "I'd almost think you mean for me and the kid to fight together..." Gretta met his gaze under the shadow of his angry brow and fearlessly stared back. She met his heated stare with her already red, rosy eyes and forced the sparks back at him. Ramone started lowing to himself and clutched his fist, out of which many small squirmy bugs crawled. "You can't be serious....damn....little..."

"What's wrong with a tag-team battle?" Bard innocently asked. Gretta suddenly snapped back at him and started staring him down as well, but his childish eyes were too much for her to try and force anger into so she stopped.

* * *

"A declaration of truce has been passed!" A herald called dutifully to the sky. "By the twilight eve, a victorious side shall be announced to the island! All the peasants and villagers shall be hastily invited to watch this momentous battle. Our greatest knight, Sir Edmund the White, shall do righteous battle against the knaves from far away in an honorable duel! The Dark Demon of the last great siege and his wench shall also throw themselves into battle against our Great and Mighty King Rupert Lioncrest!"

"Maybe you should use a Den Den Mushi, dude" Bard called. The simple folk looked at him like he babbled in some totally foreign language.

"All villagers must report" the herald continued "if they wish to see these demons justly fall and the great fist of righteousness stomp out the flames of villainy from our fair land!"

"Remind them of the ball" Gretta said.

"Princess Gretta Lioncrest the Fair has also prepared a gorgeous ball for her people!" the Herald added. A few moments went by as a scribe beyond the castle gates quickly jotted down all those notes onto some parchment and sped off. He went to tell another herald, then another and another until he was down at the dock, having sprinted through all the wreckage and doom that Ramone cause earlier.

"A battle?" Emily said, having heard the message from her nearest herald. "Oh my goodness! That means that Sir Bard and his companions...Jedidiah, we must do something!" She knelt beside her brother in his bed, tending his wounds and praying for his well being. Jed couldn't help but stare with contempt at the ceiling.

"We can do nothing" Jed demurely said. Emily gasped at her brother's sudden shift to cynicism as he went on. "We were betrayed, you and I. I thought Sir Bard was a noble man, but he is truly a pirate with a heart of pure malice. He and that Demon are of the same fantastically evil breed, and I refuse to acknowledge him as any kind of good!"

"Brother..." Emily sadly said. She stood up and folded her hands in front of her waist. "I understand you pain-"

"You don't!" Jed shouted, startling Emily. He snarled at her as he finalized his terrible thoughts. "I wish them the worst luck! May they return to their hell and justly rot in it! Emily, if you go to watch them with hope I will abandon you as you will rightly deserve to be!" Emily was in shock over this darkness, and wordlessly ran outside. Jed was left alone, weak and frail, to cry at his own cowardice. He couldn't stop her, or anyone. He couldn't save his brother from his terrible fate, and now he very well couldn't save his new friend's honor...what could he do but cry?

Back up at the castle, two individuals were preparing for their upcoming trials. Sir Edmund, a man of average size and build, fitted upon his head the final piece of his lustrous white armor and grabbed his favorite claymore from the rack at his right. He was in the armory, surrounded by magnificently kept weapons from ages past. The walls had upon them armors of all kinds, even discrete armor to be worn under a woman's dress or a priest's robes. His flowing hair continued to billow out even when his helmet was tightly clamped to his shoulder pads and the back of his breastplate.

"This be the winter" he prosed "of thy discontent, heathens! No man, woman nor child in all the land of our kingdom can stand up to my righteous might, nor can my blade ever be bested in a fight! I shall show these knaves, these trespassers of our absolute law, these villains just what power lies behind this unlimitedly beautiful voice!" He then leaned back, standing on his metal-wrapped toes, and brought his hand up to his mouth with his wrist limp and laughed. "Ohohohoho!" he effeminately and haughtily chuckled.

Elsewhere, in the maids and servants dorms, a woman of wide and extremely manly build strapped a large wooden instrument to her back. It was a loom, one in which wool is spun into thread and thread is spun into weave, and it was ready to run with wires full of clothen wire.

"These brats" the woman lowed in an extremely manly voice "think they can upstart me, here? I'll show them! No one but God and the King hisself can mess around with my little angel Gretta!" This woman, with a chin more cleft and cut than Bard's or even the king's, was the head seamstress and clothier of the island kingdom and headed every royal suiting venture. She was known as Morgan the Gray, because her hair was slowly starting to turn at even the young age of 50. "I tell you, here, this better be good though! I don't just get up n' outta bed for anything these days!"

These two fierce warriors would be the opponents for the first round of Gretta's regal title fight. Edmund would fight Colleen in the courtyard where there would be nothing but open space, while Araly would fight in the garden adjacent but unconnected to the front courtyard. The girls were nervous, especially Colleen, but the tension-dampening tattoo on Araly's back allowed her to remain calm. She looked over at the shivering Collen who was eying over her mechanical weapon and decided to help with a reaffirming pat on the shoulder.

"AAH!" Colleen shouted. She turned around, expecting...something, and saw Araly smiling nervously at her. Then she laughed a bit.

"It's okay" Araly said cheerfully. "You're a lot tougher than I am, but I'm not too worried. You'll do fine!"

"Really?" Colleen said, standing back up. "Well, I hope you do fine too." Araly extended her open hand with a friendly smile to Colleen. Colleen, the shy and socially unacknowledged, looked at the hand for a bit before responding. It was Araly's right hand, which meant that Colleen's blistered and burnt right hand had to meet it. Still, Araly's warm smile and hearted gaze gave Colleen enough courage and want to reach out anyway. Once their hands connected, Araly's smile stretched and she showed her teeth. Colleen cracked a small smile, then stared giggling.

"We'll do our best" Araly promised "and I'm sure our captains will too!"

"Yeah" Colleen agreed. "Do your best, Araly!" The girls pumped their arms up and reconnected hands with their arms at ninety degree angles at the elbow. Such a manly arm-lock brought on by two young women, but it still looked just as manly as any other!

* * *

"What the hell?" Rez said. He had followed the medics far into the castle, to far to find his way out, and finally arrived at the designated infirmary. Oddly, it wasn't adorned with the same rustic gothic architecture as the rest of the castle, nor was it equipped with ancient and senseless equipment like Rez had assumed. It was perfectly modern, if not a bit unkempt, with green beds and heart-monitors and even IV bags. Zan was hastily hooked up to one by a fleet of nurses that came from nowhere, and before Rez could stutter out his curiosity, they dispersed.

"Seriously!" Rez shouted. "What the hell is wrong with this stupid island!?"

"Who knows?" Zan mumbled. Rez turned to him, seeing his mouth just barely open but eyes tightly shut. "Maybe...it's just a mystery?" Rez gawked at his friend's insinuation, then collapsed in a tired stress into a chair opposite Zan's bed.

"Why me?" Rez asked. "Why did I get stuck with the stupid captain? Why???" As Rez asked an impossible question the sun started brightly shining into the room. Rez looked out and saw, from high up, the courtyard of the castle and the garden side-by-side. "At least we've got good seats, eh Zan?" Zan just groaned at the joke, since Zan couldn't move, and Rez smirked in victory. The crowds were gathering at the gate, eager to see an epic fight between good and evil.


	65. Fight! Against the Fake Royalty!

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

From down the hill a marching procession of people came. Under the escort of two knights of bear cavalry the villagers, headed by the stern young Emily, went walking nervously through the rows of fake nobility houses. They were all instructed at the beginning of their fake or otherwise lives that the people within those houses despised the glances of those who lived below, and peeking at those houses was not tolerated. The threat was enough to keep everyone in line. At the first mention of the state of the Paladin's barracks someone was taken from the line and thrown into the woods, so no one bothered asking any questions at all anymore.

_Such strange events_ Emily thought _can only be caused by some chivalrous outlanders like Sir Bard. I can only pray with my heart that he is still alright, and that the Demon fiend has not taken an attempt on his life. _As the crowd of villagers got closer the heavy cloud of tension got thicker. Silent whispers circulated through the mass about what they expected to see upon entering the royal grounds. Once at the gates, the guards moved their mounts to the front of the crowd and began to give orders.

"You are all here as guests!" the guard shouted. "You must show absolute respect for your Great King at all times! Anyone not heard cheering for the king and his men will be immediately taken to the forest to be privately punished! Aiding the outlanders and Demons in anyway will result in imprisonment and a followed execution alongside the outlanders after they lose. Do not talk at the king or the princess! No one may leave, either. Once inside the palace grounds, you are expected to be on the best behavior of your life! Now, please enter and find a place to sit on the amphitheater seats."

The villagers started shuffling in, one after another, and they marched up the banisters and scaffolds of the bleachers that were set against the high stone wall. The anachronism of the scene struck something in Rez's head, as he was watching from what seemed to be a very high-up floor in the castle. Sports bleachers in a medieval setting?

"What the hell...?" Rez said with a smile.

"What's going on?" Zan asked, unable to move with all his bandages and casts and IV tubes secured tightly into his veins.

"They're making a sport of this" Rez said. "Apparently Colleen and Araly are fighting first and the villagers are going to watch on some stadium bleachers."

"That sounds weird" Zan weakly noted. "Where are the captains?"

"In a corner" Rez said "way away from the villagers and the fights. I guess Gretta doesn't want anyone pointing and screaming at them or anything."

"That makes sense" Zan said. "Unfortunately, that seems to be the only thing that makes sense right now."

"I know" Rez said exasperatedly. "I'm getting really fed up with this stupid island. I just want the log to set and get to the next one already!"

"Something bothers me" Zan said. Rez turned around and started walking towards his debilitated friend to give him more attention. "Why is that princess making a sport of this? Why is she so set on watching us trounce through her finest guards and knights? Why are we, outsiders that they see as Demons and knaves, still alive?"

"I can answer that" a mysterious woman's voice said. A nurse stepped out from the shadows with a contagion mask on her mouth and coke-bottle glasses over her eyes to hide her identity. She had shock-white hair swirled up in a bun and a short singlet uniform of pure white. Most threateningly of all, she held a syringe like a knife right next to her face. "This island is a top-secret World Government ongoing experiment to test a dangerously contagious mind-control drug known as 'Pathos'. Most of the original subjects were exported twenty years ago from Impel Down, and the younger set are the offspring of those criminals who have been brought up under mind-controlled parents and an artificial world."

"...who the hell are you!?" Rez asked.

"AH!" the nurse exclaimed with total shock. "You don't know who I am?"

"Moreover, why should we care?" Zan groaned. The nurse gave an aggravated growl and stomped her foot.

"Not only have you insulted my fame" she said, tightening the grip on her syringe in one shaky hand, "but you force top-secret World Government information out of me!"

"We didn't know you were here!" Rez exclaimed. The nurse, in her rage, shattered the syringe in her hand.

"So you were ignoring me!?" she bellowed. Rez slapped his forehead and groaned loudly.

"Fine!" Rez shouted. "Who are you then?"

"I am Kurateka Kevorkia" she answered calmly, "but you can call me Kura or Teki. I also answer to Ms. Kevorkia or Babe and Cutie. My measurements are 40" 31" 36" and I have a mole on my left hip that looks like a seven-point star."

"..." Rez and Zan both replied with scowls. It was an awkward moment that passed as Kura realized just how much delicate information she had leaked.

"DAMMIT!" she roared. "Now I have to kill you! No one is allowed to know my measurements unless I'm dating them!!!"

"Just shut the hell up, will ya?" Rez sighed.

* * *

"I hope your ready, dude" Bard growled. "I never show mercy for people like you!"

"Bring it on kid" Ramone calmly taunted back. "I can easily obliterate you down to your filthy socks." The two pirate captains, one so nubile and unexperienced with the finer details of harsh pirating, and the other a ruthless murderer and marauder who is infamously known across the seas. They both stood apart, Bard glaring down at Ramone, and posed with their fists forward. They pumped their arms three times, and once again they both threw down their fists and made the same sign!

"Another tie" Ramone growled.

"Quit choosing what I choose!" Bard exclaimed. "You have rock, paper, or scissors to use, so quit using the same one that I choose!"

"Alright" Ramone said. "Tell me which one you're using so I know which one not to use."

"No way!" Bard shouted. "That's cheating! Let's just try again!" So three more throw downs and still they ended up tying. Bard sulked away to clutch his aching head while Ramone just stood bored in the shady, completely separated corner of the far-right garden they were in.

"This may take a while" Ramone thought out loud. "I should make sure Colleen isn't getting overwhelmed yet." Bard turned around, ready to 'fight' once more, and saw Ramone preparing to use his power. He reached slowly with his fingers in a plucking motion toward his right eye. Then, ever so calmly, he grabbed his eye and just pulled it out of his head.

"Does that hurt?" Bard anxiously whispered.

"It's not really my eye" Ramone said. Suddenly, his wing started peeling and long wings unfolded. The pupil grew outward and split apart to form black antennae and the rest of the eye formed into a vaguely dragonfly shape. "My entire body is a haven for insects and vermin alike. I'm a living human hive. This is a rare type of super-poisonous bug that can change shape. It's known as a 'Tengufly', and I can use it to observe things from far away."

"What if it gets eaten?" Bard asked, ignoring the fact that Ramone just pulled out his eyeball like he'd seen it before.

"Then I'll need an eye patch for a while" Ramone admitted. "These things are hard as hell to find, you know."

"That's freaking amazing!" Bard shouted in admiration. Ramone just softly groaned at the overly excited young man he was staring at and let go of his eye. It flew high up and then swooped down to land on the unattended shoulder of a young woman in the crowd. Ironically, it was Emily who Ramone's eye perched upon, and she didn't notice at all. She was too engrossed in awing over the two young women out in the battlefield preparing for battle. Colleen calibrated her Hell Tiger arm cannon and tried to avoid toughing her horridly burned skin, while Araly looked through the deck of alchemic ink cards she'd written. Araly couldn't help but notice Colleen's arm and decided to be proactive.

"Do you need a bandage for you arm?" Araly asked very neutrally. Colleen, too shy about her condition to be sure about an answer just tensed up and started mewing in confusion. "Here, hold out your arm." Araly retrieved some bandages with ocean blue streaks of glowing ink. Colleen decided to trust her friend and held out her arm with the metal fixture mechanically drawn back to her side. Araly carefully went around her arm and bandaged the whole thing up to the fingers.

"Why is it glowing?" Colleen frightfully asked.

"It's a cooling agent" Araly explained. "That way when you use your cannon the heat won't hurt you anymore. Now, I'm not a doctor, but your arm should start looking better if you keep that on for a while, okay?"

"Really?" Colleen asked. "It'll...it'll look normal again?"

"It may be a little scarred" Araly said "but yeah, it'll look pretty normal." Colleen blushed. She had never gotten so much kindness out of one person before, at least not without something in return. Colleen quickly reduced herself to crouching and palming her face in embarrassment while Araly continued to prepare. Araly's arsenal consisted of paper and cloth, hardly the stuff that could qualify as weaponry. However, Araly was the only one present who knew at all about the secrets of alchemy. She had the obvious advantage of wielding 'magic' that the civilians were so fearful of after seeing the Paladins using it one year ago.

_I can't be scared right now_ Araly told herself. _I need to concentrate. I'm a pirate. I'm a pirate! I need to fight like a pirate, like a crew member! I have to win for Bard's sake and for Rez and Zan and everyone else! I...I'm not scared at all! I'm ready!_

"I'm ready!" Araly shouted. "Where's my opponent?" Gretta looked over from her high seat over the crowded bleachers and nodded to the guards at the door to open the front gate of the castle.

"Don't worry" Gretta called elegantly. "I'm sure you won't be disappointed."

"My daughter" Rupert began, "you aren't sympathizing with these people are you? They are outlanders! We can't afford to go easy on them at all, whether they be man woman or animal!"

"I am aware, father" Gretta said. "We must hope that Edmund and Morgan can hold those same merits and not disappoint _us_." Rupert drew back from his daughter when he heard the names. Obviously, those were enough to please him and give him a wide and confident smile.

"My people!" Rupert bellowed from his higher seat above the villagers, "the truly righteous shall win this day!" Cheering followed after his words. "I graciously introduce the opponents of these challenging outlanders! Sir Edmund the White and Lady Morgan the Strong!" The gates of the castle opened with a glaring halo of pure white behind the two mighty figures that came stepping out. One hone brightly, reflecting the light with his platinum and pearly white plate armor, the other stood tall and gruff with her portable loom glistening in the natural sunlight. The clouds were finally all gone, and an infinite blue sky stretched overhead.

"Here they come" Araly said. Her arms were crossed sternly and her longest silken scarf billowed beautifully in the breeze. Colleen stood up and clutched her right arm out of shyness. The girls stood firm while their enemies squared up against them. Edmund equipped his circular shield in one hand and a shining sword in the other. Morgan took out a heavy cape of clean light-blue and snapped it in her hands like a belt.

"Excuse me" Gretta announced, "you're both wrong." The two fighters looked up from their opponents. "Please switch, you two. You're facing the wrong people." After an exchange of awkward and quizzical glances, Morgan and Edmund switched places. Now they were staring down their correct adversaries.

"'Ello here" Morgan lowed.

"What a pretty face" Edmund said aside to himself. "She and I share some great things in common!"

"I can hear you" Colleen said. Edmund made a sort of quizzical, inattentive grunt at her in response.

* * *

A sharp whistle summoned a fleet of armed nurses. They wielded bone saws and syringes full of strange liquid and all had the same identity-hiding techniques of their superior Kura. Rez drew out his twin gunblades and stood near Zan, ready to fight.

"Kill them both!" Kura ordered. "They made me tell them my measurements! Also they know about the island!" The nurses rushed in at Rez, apparently unaware that his short swords could shoot at them. He fired twenty times, ten shots from each gun before reloading, and the bullets threw each nurse away before bounding to the ground.

"Rubber slugs" Rez said, slowly reloading. "Trust me, ganging up on a duelist is a really bad idea. I'm trained to take people out in a fair match and to eliminate any unfairness in a duel. Unless you can shoot a fly out of the air with a stern-side cannon loaded with frozen grapes, you better give up while you can. I'm an invincible duelist!" Kura felt uneasy. Rez pointed his guns at her and leaned his head back.

"Quit showing off and just kill her" Zan groaned. "You're guns hurt my ears."

"Shut up!" Rez growled. "You're supposed to be comatose!"


	66. Rez v Kurateka Kavorkia

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"Please begin fighting now" Gretta calmly demanded. "I'm becoming swiftly bored."

"How should we do this?" Araly whispered to Colleen.

"I..I-I don't know" Colleen nervously said. "I suppose, we should maybe...attack?"

"I mean" Araly said "how can we separate them so we can fight individually?"

"Oh" Colleen said. "Well, I can do that." Colleen activated her cannon with a quick motions of her hand. She shot her arm straight out and glared at her target. While everyone was distracted with the evil and menacing metal framework that was assembling around Colleen's arm, Araly snared her adversary's leg and started running away. Gretta wasn't fooled.

"Where is she going?" Gretta asked herself.

"It's this terrible demon magic again" Rupert snarled. He was intently focused on Colleen and her self-preparing arm cannon. Araly got enough distance to complete her retreat into the line of finely cut brush that separated the stone courtyard and the lush garden. "Sir Edmund!" the king shouted. "Stop her before she can activate her terrible magics!" Colleen was already ready. Her plating was fully assembled and the turbines were spun. Before Edmund could arm himself to fight the girl, she pressed the nozzle of her cannon against his pearly armor and dented it with a massive blast of condensed air. Edmund flew just above the ground for a good many meters before digging his heels and shield into the dirt. He slowed to a stop and noticed the mass of steam billowing off of Colleen's arm. Beyond that, he also noticed how drastically the shy girl's face had changed. Her brow was now fully furrowed and her mouth was in a deep scowl. All the tender, feminine warmth had left her eyes and left them dark, foreboding, and most of all demonic.

"HEY!" Araly called. The unguarded Morgan looked over and saw some suspicious activity in the garden. Araly had tied the other end of the long rope attached to Morgan's ankle to a tree she weighed down. "We're fighting too." Araly cut the tree loose and let it snap back up. Morgan was dragged off her feet and thrown into the garden grounds. Araly, feeling proud of herself, yanked a cord and cut the rope holding Morgan loose as well, which made the seamstress fly even farther without getting snared again. However, that was a huge underestimation on Araly's part.

"You're a tricky little whelp, here" Morgan pleasantly growled. She flipped through the air, saulted back onto her feet and landed with a mighty thudding 'BOOM!'. The villagers were impressed by both survival acts and cheered in both directions. Colleen was shut off to the world, now in a state of animistic uncaring just like her captain's perpetual attitude, and she ignored the cheering. She clutched her cannon, steaming from the combined properties of the heat and the cooling agent in her bandages, and prepared to charge it again.

"What beauteous rage!" Edmund exclaimed. He prepared his sword and his shield and started rushing in. "This warm pounding in mine chest, this feeling of comfort all over, could it be? Could it really be? This girl, with the enchanting face, has smitten me!" Of course, as Edmund was openly declaring his thoughts, the people shared gasps of terror. One shot and the with knight had already fallen? "Oh yes, I am smitten...by her beauty! This is love!" Now the villagers and guards were silent. Everyone had a look of general disgust, except the competent Emily who blinked innocently. The Tengufly on her shoulder translated the assumed message to Ramone, who adapted the same look of disbelief.

"Hey" Bard said to him. "Hey, you okay?"

"No" Ramone quickly answered.

Back in the garden, Araly was preparing her next traps while keeping a steady eye on Morgan.

"It's all useless, love!" Morgan shouted. "Just give in, here, and I'll go easy on ya!"

"Unacceptable" Gretta called. "She must suffer for being. You must end her." Araly got angry and turned around mid-dash.

"No one asked you!" she shouted. As she spun back around she threw a loop of orange and black patterned cloth at Morgan.

"Wha's 'is, here?" Morgan asked, catching the rope. The glyphed paper that Araly tied into the rope activated, and its properties forced the rope to warp and constrict Mogan's arm like a snake. The crushing pressure was unexpected, and forced Morgan into a brief panic.

"Got you now!" Araly said. She took out a shock-yellow lasso and twirled it at Morgan. The initial shock of the unorthodox attack had worn off now, so the manly seamstress was able to dodge. Araly yanked the lasso back and prepared it once again for a quick snare. Morgan took the moment to get on the offensive as well. She took out some beaters, tools that resembled bulky fly-swatters, and tossed them at Araly. Araly stopped spinning her lasso and rolled out of the way, just in time to dodge the beaters that were now set deep into the stone walls of the castle perimeter.

"So powerful!" a woman in the stands exclaimed. "If we had beaters that strong our clothes would glisten so brightly!"

"Verily!" another woman agreed. Emily was getting star-crossed. She couldn't decide on who to watch being dead-center of the stands. She had no bias aside from the fighters of her homeland, but the events so far were too amazing for her to want to ignore either fight. On one side, the lieutenant of the Demon with the devilish, destructive arm against a shining white knight whose beauty was said to shame the sky itself. On the other side, a crafty young woman with no remarkable physical skill who fought with similar magic that the Paladins had been seen using before against a huge and strong looking woman with a whole loom strapped to her back. The decision confused her until she became dizzy and had to shake her head.

"I cannot sit and think like this" Emily whispered to herself. "I must do my best to view the best of both my kingdom's great and righteous fighters!"

"No" Gretta said directly to her. Gretta was lower down to the ground now and addressed the uncertain Emily eye to eye. "Watch the girl fighting with cloth. She'll be much more entertaining." Emily, unsure of how to respond in respectful and timely fashion, gulped and nodded.

"Y-Yes your highness" she finally said. Gretta ordered her knights to use a pulley and raise her back up, leaving Emily and the rest of the villagers a little bewildered by her presence.

* * *

Inside the castle, Kura was still fighting against the surprised Rez who was defending the still gravely injured Zan. Kura attacked with syringes filled with a mysterious green fluid and surgery scalpels. Rez countered with his fancy short-swordplay and kept the threat of point-blank fire on the field as well.

"Dodge!" Zan ordered. Kura made a thrust with her needle. Rez hopped and let her thrust the fluid into the stone wall. It dissolved, showing just how deadly that mystery liquid was. Rez made a threatened grunt and backed up. "Now, attack!" Zan ordered.

"SHUT UP!" Rez roared. "You're a horrible coma actor! Just shut up!"

"I'm not supposed to be in a coma, am I?" Zan asked. Kura came charging again, this time with four scalpels in one hand ready to throw. Rez had to decide, and quickly, between attacking to get her out of an offensive stance or defending and risking melting by dangerously strong acid. The mind of a duelist kicked in and time, to Rez, seemed to stop.

_Okay_ Rez began, _I think I have about a half second to think before she actually attacks. She has four knives in one hand, and probably more on her. Considering the pattern of her attacks up to now, I'd think she'll just use the knives to distract my guard then try to inject me. She may not even try to inject me. She can use the liquid in the syringe as a projectile as well, then predict which way I'll dodge. Okay, in that case, I need to take my environment into account. To my immediate left there's a bed, which I can tip over as a distraction and for cover. To my right there's more open space before I hit a bed or the wall again. Zan's in my line of sight, so shooting might be a bad choice, considering of course that these rubber slugs will rebound into his face or his balls...that would hurt! Okay, so as a failsafe I'll fire, but I need to be exact. The wall I would hit would ricochet the bullet almost straight at me, and unfortunately I'm not quick enough to dodge it!_

Decision time! Almost a half second had passed and Rez had his plan. Within that instance, he calculated every step he needed to make a plan. In an instant he leaped to the right and dodged, as he predicted, a syringe thrust and squirt. The terrible liquid splashed on the floor and burned small craters in the old stone structure. Kura, in her rage, threw her knives and let them sink into the bed. Rez jumped back up and jabbed her with the butt of his gunblade in the gut. She keeled over and coughed into her mask, the he made the finishing blow to the back of her head with his elbow. Kura fell down, incapacitated, and Rez retrieved the toxic syringe carefully from her hand.

"40" my ass" Rez declared. "I'm pretty good at proportions. I'd say you're 39" at best."

"Can you worry about something prevalent for once?" Zan sarcastically asked. "Be a good moron and go watch Araly's fight for me."

"What's that, patient?" Rez said, raising the still half-full syringe so Zan could see it. "You need a shot of painkillers? Well, what kind of nurse would I be to deny you? Hehehe..." Rez menacingly approached the scared Zan with the intention of sticking and melting him. Zan panicked and started groaning.

"Cut that out, man" Zan demanded. "Really! Seriously! You know once I'm out of traction I'll kill you!"

"Ah," Rez grunted "I'm just kidding. Don't be such a baby." Rez tossed the syringe into a distant sink and let it shatter. He was tempted to see if the sink had melted, but a loud crackling and corroding sizzle confirmed his temptations soon enough.

"Ugggh..." groaned someone around a dark corner.

"There's someone else here?" Zan noticed.

"Sounds like it" Rez said. "Stay here. I'll check it out."

"No" Zan growled sarcastically "let me come with you! I don't want you getting hurt and winding up in a hospital bed! Jackass." Rez smiled and marched around the corner anyway.

* * *

He saw an adjoining, private section of beds that were separated by thick, mobile dividers. There were no windows to illuminate the room, just poorly built lamps that connected to offline electric Den Den Mushis. Rez kept walking into the darkness, searching for what looked like a body, and stopped in front of the middle bed. Sprawled out on it was a restlessly shifting figure of huge, sturdy build.

"You...?" the body groaned. "You!"

"Me?" Rez repeated.

"Please, help" the body said again, reaching out with an injured hand. "Cut my IV, I beg you."

"What?" Rez said. Suddenly, his superior vision came into focus. In the minimal light Rez could see the obvious frame of none other than **Reginald Drakengard**, the knight he had just gotten done beating down earlier! "What...what the hell!?" Rez pulled his gunblades and aimed them at Drakengard's face.

"I can explain everything, young man" Drakengard in a reasonable voice. For some reason, Rez wanted to believe him, but something was keeping him from completely submitting to that thought. His fingers wouldn't even touch the triggers.

"Why should I believe you?" Rez demanded.

"I assume that idiot nurse blabbed something about an experiment?" Drakengard ventured. "I know all about it, because it's my experiment. If you can release me I can make sure you and your friends make it safely off this accursed island."

"Hmm..." Rez hummed.

"REZ!" Zan shouted from his bed. "Get ready!" Kura, now conscious and angry, came around the corner with a limp and two hands full of syringes.

"You've had your fun, boy" Kura growled, "now get away from that man!"

"Oh not her" Drakengard groaned.

"You shut up!" Kura blared. Rez aimed at her, unafraid of the consequences, and glared her down with unmoving eyes of stern murder. The eyes of a Duelist. "I'm going to enjoy getting **your** measurements, kid! Get ready to die!" Rez redireacted his right arm and threw his gunblade to slice apart the IV that binded Drakengard to his bed. Once free, the dangerously built man hopped out of bed in his armored legguards and grieves toward the angered nurse. He glared daggers at her until she got scared and started backing off. Then he grabbed a book from nearby and tossed it with unseen speed and amazing accuracy to smash her right between the eyes. She fell over, kicked her legs up dramatically, and blacked back out.

"We should tie her up" Drakengard said.

"She's trouble, eh?" Rez asked. Still, he smirked at the view he had, despite the poor light...


	67. Araly's Arsenal of Paper and Cloth!

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Far off the coast of the island Okumaiwa where the Buster Crew was currently docked, the whales breached the water and sang into the open air. The swirling aura of revolution hung over the distant island like a cloud that was ready to drop down and engulf the people. Those whales were very promptly devoured by an enormous whale-like Sea King that dove back down with barely a sound. Inside the castle of the island, the huge fortress of royalty where the corrupt king and the anachronistic servants of the Government lived. IN here, in the medical wing, Reginald has awoken with his original conscience thanks to the beat down Rez gave him! Now he and Rez are preparing to talk with Zan.

"You see" Reginald began, lighting up a cigarette stolen from the nurses quarters where Kura was tied up, "I am to blame for the state of this island. It was a folly I made twenty years ago, when I was but a reckless young man like you."

"I'm a pirate, guy" Rez argued. "The 'like you' thing doesn't quite work for Government agents."

"Kururu" Reginald laughed softly. The evil and blood-lust had effectively left his voice now and he spoke like a normal, if jaded, man. "I was as rambunctious and lawless a scientist as they would allow. The whole reason I chose this island to test my drugs was because of its uninhabited state. I took some men I felt similarity to, men who had fallen from grace and abandoned their honor for personal ambition, and I watched them die here. The people you have seen are only a slim percentage of the survivors and their children. Most of the convicts responded negatively to the drug, went mad, and tried to wrestle the giant bears in the woods."

"From screw up to screw up" Rez said. "So why not call it off and run away?"

"I would have" Reginald said, "if not for my treacherous assistant, Rupert Lioncrest!"

"What!?" Rez exclaimed.

"He's behind this crap?" Zan groaned.

"Yes" Reginald said. "The project was going along swimmingly until he decided to butt in. He grew some annoying complex after having a child with one of the female prisoners, a convicted murder he manipulated with the mind-control drug, and decided he wanted to be a king. He used the drug to break down the people's minds and mold them into something what you've already seen."

"That rat bastard!" Rez shouted, shooting up to his feet. He took a moment to read Reginald's surprised expression for an affirmative sign. "Right? He's a rat bastard?"

"Yes, he is" Reginald said. "That's less of a problem now, though. He's made irreversible setbacks in my plan, something I refuse to forgive. Thankfully, I already had a partial tolerance to the drug, so my state of drug-driven madness hasn't left me defenseless. Over the years he treated me like a monster, a secret weapon that knows only pure destruction. Now, I have become that weapon, and I will use the power he force-fed me to crush him between my fingers! If you and your crews could help me, I'd be obliged, and the whole incident of your arival on Government-sanctioned land will be...lost in the paperwork."

"That'd be pretty nice of you to do" Rez said. "Alright, not like we want a full armada taking us out this early in our venture. Deal." Rez extended his hand and the much stronger Reginald nearly crushed it with a shake.

"That's nice" Zan said, bringing attention to the crushing wounds that Reginald had caused earlier.

"Oh right" Reginald shamefully said with a sigh. "Sorry about that, sir. I couldn't do anything about it."

"No, I know" Zan said "but I still want to know how you circulated and are still circulating a drug this potent. Where is it?"

"It" Reginald began "is in the wa---" That's when Reginald took notice of Zan's IV bags. There were several of them inside him through his casts, holding him down and filling him with the medical liquid. "Oh, crap! Rez, sever those IV bags, quickly!"

"You mean..." Rez said, realizing the truth. Zan's eyes started shaking out of shock.

"It's in the water" Zan whispered.

"DAMN!" Rez cursed. He sliced all the IV tubes off and let the fluids spill out to the floor. "What now?"

"He may have taken" Reginald darkly started "a bit too much."

"Oh it was in the IV bags, eh?" Zan very casually said.

"Be more serious!" Rez demanded. "You could be under the effects already, dammit! Quick, criticize me!"

"You're a moron" Zan said "and of course I'm not under the effects. Why else am I still conscious, exhausted an in pain?"

"You didn't...?" Reginald said. "Why would you?"

"Do what?" Rez asked. "Who? Where? Huh!?" He darted his head back and forth until it stopped to look at Zan.

"I never trusted these people" Zan admitted. "The anachronistic nurses and technology in this room was enough to shatter my trust. Those IV tubes were never inserted in me. Rather, they went **through** me." Rez blinked in disbelief a few times, then ducked his head and saw the huge, dripping wet spots under the bed. "Now I need some help phasing my way out of these bandages!"

"Can you walk without the casts?" Reginald asked, offering a hand while Rez sulked off with a grimace of total disbelief.

"I've suffered worse, actually" Zan admitted. He brought his hand up from the dry, solid bandages and was lifted out from the casts and onto the floor. He landed on his feet with a loud groan, stumbled forward, and then regained his balance. "I'm not in fighting shape per say."

"Pity" Reginald growled. "I thought you could help make this part easy..."

"What part?" Rez asked, snapping back to the present. Reginald walked over to the huge wooden and steel-bound door, cracked his knuckles and stomped into place. With one well-wound punch he shattered the door against the opposite hallway wall and flexed his miraculously defined body.

"The escape" Reginald growled, facing back into the room.

* * *

In the garden, Araly continued fighting Morgan. Her strategy to noose her with an electric lasso was progressing without much actual progress. So far she had gotten the heavy woman to sweat form constantly moving around with a heavy loom tied around her back, but Araly's actual, damaging attacks weren't doing that much. On the other side of the shrub and bush wall Araly could hear the hissing of steam and the explosive blasts of Colleen's arm cannon.

"Right, here!" Morgan shouted, avoiding some exploding pieces of paper. "You're getting quite a bugger, ain't ya?"

"What!?" Araly shouted, not understanding any part of what she had said.

"I ain't playing, here!" Morgan announced. She finally found some solid cover behind a statue and threw the loom from her back to the ground. She worked quickly, with ridiculous speed and amazing dexterity, to make some immensely thick ropes of steely blue. Morgan made two ropes of indefinite length attached to the loom and stepped out from cover. Araly standing with her hands behind her back and smiling innocently. Once she saw Morgan, she winked and stuck out her tongue.

"You wench!" Morgan shouted. "You dare stick out your tongue to me!?" Morgan took a step forward, felt some paper crinkle under her feet, and looked sharply down. Four ropes forming a box around her ankle started converging until they snapped and wrapped all the way up around her huge legs, binding them both together and forcing her off balance to the ground.

"You fell for it" Araly said in a sing-song voice. "I set a trap while you weren't looking. In fact, I set up a few!"

"Tricky, aren't ye?" Morgan growled. Despite the magical cement-grade binding properties of the cloth and alchemic ink, Morgan was able to not only part her legs but with some extra straining effort broke the ropes! Araly wasn't too surprised, she anticipated that happening, and that's why she merely lowered her smile and turned cautiously to the side. The wind caught her hair and her long, silken scarf that hung from her arms.

"You can't beat me, here" Morgan warned. "I tell you twitty, you'd be bet'er off runnin' 'way an' beggin' fa mercy!" Unseen by Morgan, the broken bits of rope at her feet were reforming with the frayed edges of the torn cloth adapting very pointed edges.

_I used the freezing ink_ Araly thought _combined with a healing ink. Once broken, it will become frozen and frigid, then reform magnetically. Now that she's torn up the ropes she's essentially made her own Iron...!!!_ Finally, divine inspiration struck Araly! She had a name for the attack she had just used, and decided to flaunt her new-found technique by snapping her fingers and crossing her arms. She pointed down at Morgan and shouted to get her attention.

"Hey!" Araly called. "You've been trapped! Again! By my **Icy Iron Maiden!**" Morgan looked confused, but once the biting, ripping pain started at her legs she realized just what had happened. The sharp-pointed ropes were digging into her skin trying to reform through her skin, and now they were too deep to yank out without damage. Morgan growled and made a desperate act. She reeled back as she fell down and tossed one of her giant ropes at Araly. Araly was forced out of her cocky position and fled. The rope impacted hard into the ground, making a small crater, and the audience cheered.

"Make her flee!" a male shouted from the stands. "She deserveth it!" Gretta stared analytically at the fight, waiting for the next brilliant play.

"Ouch!" Morgan grunted. She began slowly pulling the ropes out so they would assemble as soon as they were out of her leg. She had some small holes and they were bleeding, but after some painless flexing of her foot she decided she was alright. Araly looked at the huge pillar sticking out of the ground and the shaking strands that came from the loom. "You wench! I'll end you right now!"

"No you won't!" Araly shouted. Then she started running away. She ran past the bleachers and the citizens gasped in fear. Morgan started running forward so she could keep her eye on Araly without risking hitting the villagers, but lost her as she ran into the garden. Morgan started running back, but a fast flurry of inked cards came at her. She took the pillar of rope like a loge and batted the cards away. They didn't do anything, decoys. Araly burst out from a hedge and threw some real cards. Morgan had to throw her pillar down into the ground to block the explosions. Now her main weapon was lodged in the ground and Araly was at her side with her silk scarf billowing behind her like a mystical shawl.

"Ha!" Araly shouted, pulling out a hand of cards. "I win now!" Araly threw the cards at an angle, hoping to trap Morgan's feet again by hitting the ground around her or her legs. Morgan didn't want either to happen so she made a rash decision and leaped powerfully back. While in the air, she took out some sharp-brimmed hats from the tailor's quarters in the castle and threw them at Araly. Araly didn't expect another attack and panicked to block. She got cut on her arm and both legs, but she could still stand. "Ow! No! Now what!?"

"Ha!" Morgan shouted as she landed. "Now we're even, here!" Araly crouched down to grab her legs in pain...and smiled. Morgan stood under a tree, a tree she hadn't noticed before, and wasn't able to notice in time.

"No!" a villager shouted. "Run!"

"Flee!" a woman called.

"That duplicitous knave!" Rupert growled with a slam of his fist. Gretta, the undoubtedly smartest of all the royalty in the land, smiled. She had gotten to see something wonderfully complex in this fight. An electric noose swooped down and wrapped around Morgan's neck, startling and electrocuting her.

"AHHH!!!" Morgan screamed in pain. "Ah! What? Wha' is dis, here!?!?"

"I told you" Araly said, waving her hand "I set up some traps. That one's the **Lightning Gallows** trap, and you fell for it perfectly." Morgan continued groaning and growling with her hands around the noose while Araly moved over to the huge loom with several explosive cards. "Now, to get rid of this thing just in case..."

"NO!" Morgan shouted suddenly. Araly looked over and saw the buff woman tear apart her noose and drop loudly to the ground. Her cowl hood was singed off revealing her bald and, anachronistic as it may be, tattooed head. "Don't you touch that, here!!!" Morgan demanded. Araly started backing away form it, but a sudden and huge boom startled her off her balance. The tree Morgan escaped from was now coming at her and falling toward her. Morgan looked up in dire distress and watched the tree crash down on her. She had lost the fight, debilitated by tree to the face. Araly had taken cover behind the loom out of fear and saw a huge smoldering hole in the shrub wall.

"Colleen?" Araly asked. Gretta looked over and saw a huge pluming cloud of smoke, and within that she saw the two glowing eyes of the murderous Demon that Edmund fought. The white-knight's shield was dented and the elegantly painted Lioncrest symbol was melted and distorted beyond recognition. His sword was fine as he hadn't yet gotten the chance to use it, and his stance showed that he remained adamant to his righteous cause. He had the highest hope despite the obvious overwhelming force of evil that was the smoke-engulfed Colleen.

_What impressive force!_ He thought in his effeminate voice. _She truly is beautiful when she fights..._


	68. Courtyard Chaos & Castle Conflict

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

In the stone-cobbled courtyard of the stately castle, Colleen and Edmund fought on. She had armed her mighty gauntlet of tangled metal bands and a smoldering-hot cannon nozzle. The mechanics of her gun, the 'Hellcat', had to allow at least two minutes of cooling for another burning bullet to be fired. She had fired three bullets in succession at the spry and agile knight who dodged them all at the expense of his shield.

"The royal crest" Edmund noted "is besmirched. Fie! Beauteous or not, I shall smite thee!" Colleen simply rose her arm, with a veil of steam following it, and Edmund cowered behind his shield. Then she fell over and caught herself with the tip of her metal arm cannon. It made the old and cold rocks sizzle and crack open upon contact. The heat had exhausted her completely, as the heavy sweat on her brow was evidence.

_Oh no!_ She silently exclaimed with fright. _All the moisture in my body is evaporating. Hellcat is too hot for me to handle this much. I need to change my strategy before I collapse..._ Colleen started lurching slowly forward, then broke out in a speedy shamble. The steam continued pouring off her arm as she advanced. Edmund dug his shield into the ground and rolled away from it. Collen continued toward the shield and swung her metal-braced arm at it, sending it in a dangerous arc toward Edmund. Edmund looked up and saw the sharp edge of his shield spinning at him, then he looked down at the demon girl glaring through a cloud of white smoke.

_Oh dear!_ Edmund exclaimed. _Now I am in quite the predicament. If I don't somehow evade both danger sat once, one my shield and two the lady demon, I will be rightly thrashed! I can't stand around and ponder, however, I must act!_ So, out of sheer desperate inspiration, Edmund grabbed his sword with both hands and backed up a few steps. Colleen started running at him, and as his shield came down Edmund wound his sword back even further.

"Mohohoho!!!" Rupert heartily laughed to the embarrassment of his daughter. "Sir Edmund was a fine choice, Gretta my daughter. Look how brilliant of a genius he is! Tactical strategy in the midst of combat!"

"Who wouldn't do that?" Gretta skeptically asked. "If you have a situation like that, that's the only thing you **can** do."

"Really?" Rupert asked. Edmund swung his sword and his his shield at Colleen. Not taking into account the wind that still picked up or the wind-resistance factors that a kite shield would have, Edmund's shield missed its mark and flew into the audience stands. No one was harmed but the king and his ego.

"Of course" Gretta said "you need to be smart to use that kind of strategy."

"Oh bullocks" Edmund shivered. Colleen drew back her arm and then punched it forward, the heat coming off and hitting Edmund as he side-stepped the attack. Collen had to run a few more steps forward as the momentum of her punch was greater than her actual weight, and Edmund used the opportunity as best he could. He charged in while her back was turned to him and prepared to make a thrust with his sword.

"The day is mine after all!" Edmund called. Colleen wrenched her arm off the ground and threw it behind her, just barely missing Edmund's face. The knight was so relieved and terrified that he forgot to stop running and tripped over the metal of Colleen's arm. Colleen retrieved her arm and moved away in skips. She was panting hard, nearly dehydrated and completely exhausted from her blind berserk of burning bullets before.

* * *

"I can't..." she she said with a breath, "I can't keep going..."

"Really?" Edmund asked. "You admit defeat then?" He used his sword to prop himself up and readjusted his helmet to see out of it again. "I misjudged you, then. I assumed, although you are beautiful, that a demon like yourself would not know better to fight against a righteous man such as I. Lo! Humble villagers, the day has already won! I claim victory as of now!" The crowd cheered for their knight, despite the near-brush with death some of them had by his foolish hand. Emily applauded but she didn't smile, and the bug on her shoulder was starting to unnerve her.

_Why does it not move?_ Emily asked, trying hard not to stare at the thing. _Is it attracted to me? To my pure flesh? Could this be some evil demon bug from that devilish man!? Perhaps...but if it be such an insect I dare not bother it. It may hold some evil powers that could injure me worse then my dear brother..._

"NO!" Araly shouted. She was hanging back in the garden, now standing at the top of a tree with her ropes as support. "Colleen, think about your honor as a pirate! Think about your duty to your captain! Colleen, don't let this windbag get one over on you!!!" Colleen took her friend's kind advice to heart and finally found the courage and strength to stand upright.

"Don't listen to the wench" Edmund instructed to the audience. "She is obviously at wits end! Seeing her fellow outcasted monster fall at the hands of the righteous is too much for her feeble mind to comprehend. Besides that, by my standards as a royal knight, I do not find her beautiful at all-"

"SHUT UP!" Colleen roared. She made a reeling roundhouse punch to the back of his head with her Hellcat hand and sent him tumbling across the grounds into the broken statue in the center of the yard.

"Nice shot!" Araly cheered. The audience started grumbling with disapproval and dismay.

"She has no honor" a woman declared.

"What a cursed fiend!" a man exclaimed. Edmund got up shakily with sword still ready and a hand over his naked face.

"Now see what you have done!" Edmund declared with a growl. Colleen stood her ground with a sternly watching face and tensed the fingers inside her cannon. She knew, by now, it was ready and safe to fire again. "You have marred my perfect beauty! I am livid, nay outrageously infuriated by this upset! How darest thou, how DARE indeed! Look at what you have done..." he said as he slowly removed his hand. The audience leaned in while Colleen stayed totally focused. Araly, out of pure curiosity, used her telescopic paper binoculars to get a close up of Edmund's face. He had a plethora of lengthy stitches, big eyes, thick eyebrows, a bulbous and beaked nose, a wispy mustache, a cleft chin and crooked teeth; all of which made ironic by the fact he concluded his vindictive declaration "...to my wondrous beauty!!!"

Jaws dropped everywhere. Even Ramone, watching from afar, made a face of utter disgust. Bard's immediate reaction was a loud and very pained grunt of "ARGH!" when he saw that he had tied again in their continued game.

_Did I..._ Coleen thought with some guilt in her inner voice, _did I do all that!?!?_

"I say" Rupert said with his jaw far down from his face, "I did not expect that to happen."

"Of course not" Gretta said. She expected it to happen and was bored with the obvious outcome. Araly was the only one in the courtyard making noise, as she was laughing loudly and hysterically from her tree. She nearly fell off of it, she was laughing so hard.

* * *

Inside the castle, Rez and Zan followed behind the muscular Reginald Drakengard as they all made their way through the corridors and stairwells of the huge castle. Zan struggled to keep up but did so anyway.

"You sure you don't need a hand?" Rez asked. "We've got a lot of stairs to go."

"So tell me" Zan began to Reginald, "just how aware are you about the 'Ghost' on this island?"

"Ramone Cervantes" Reginald growled. "Yes, I actually remember fighting him a year ago. He and his crew came here, docking right at the village, and tried to declare war on us all. I knew who he was, of course, but because of the drug I could only watch myself beat him and his crew of pirates back onto their ship and then route them into the woods by snapping off their rudder."

"No wonder he hates you guys" Rez pointed out.

"He deserves what he got" Reginald said sternly. "He's a terrible man, trust me. His record as an outlaw is more gruesome than either of you really know, and he has a loyal crew to follow him in his carnage."

"I've heard a little about him" Zan admitted. "I don't know just how he escaped the Gaol though...not that I want to." Rez glanced at Zan as he ran, then turned forward. His curiosity about the matter was beginning to bug him.

"There they are!" a random guard shouted. Reginald and the guys dismounted the spiral steps and came into a huge formal room with dusty chandeliers and many broken pillars supporting the artisan-carved handrails. They were on the second floor, a sort of balcony with two sets of long stairs leading up against the wall to their level from below. Several guards met them, standing in the middle of the large balcony with spears armed. "Lady Kura was right! Drakengard has broken loose his binds!"

"Didn't we tie her up?" Rez asked.

"Not tight enough, apparently" Reginald growled. "HEY! Move out! Don't you have something more important to do?"

"Tis true!" a guard quivered. "He hath gone mad with power! We cannot quell him!" It all came back to him now. Reginald Drakengard was feared as a super-powerful monster. Reginald grew an agitated smile across his sharp-bearded face.

"Shut thy face, guardsman!" the apparent captain of the guards yelled. "We must cease him and his fellow heretics 'fore they corrupt the righteous people outside and disrupt the royal tournament!"

"Tournament!?" Reginald growled. Suddenly a vein in his head snapped and his face contorted from that of a kind and aged man to the monstrous evil that was Drakengard, sans the smile. Now he just looked pissed. "What tournament!?" The guards simultaneously froze up out of fear and Reginald started running forward. He clenched his fists tight and rolled his shoulders forward as he ran.

_Six guards_ Reginald thought as he approached. _They're in a sloppy, loose formation. The ground floor is fifteen feet below, approximately. They won't get up if I can get them down there forcefully. _To his end, Reginald quickly turned left towards the wall and stopped, letting his arms swing forward. The guards broke formation to get away, but the enthusiastic leader remained with his spear drawn. Reginald turned with a mighty stomp toward the guard, paralyzed him with fear, and then raised his other leg high off the ground.

"...eep!" the guard squeak.

"GET OUT OF HERE!!!!" Reginald viciously roared. He delivered a mighty, full-bodied kick. His jaw clenched and moved his whole head forward. He was nearly lifted off the ground and was sent ahead a step as the guard left his foot and was thrown into the far, far away opposite wall with a huge thud. He groaned and slid down the stone wall while Reginald planted his feet down to the solid floor again. He took a moment with his head down and breathed while Rez and Zan looked at the poor guard that lay broken across the ballroom. Their heads slowly drifted back with awe at the surprised Reginald in the center of the elevated stage. Reginald glanced, then turned to the pirates and pointed at what happened with a goofy grin and chuckle.

"You can't be serious" Zan groaned.

"Are all strong dudes" Rez lowed with anger "incredibly stupid, or is it just the ones we know?"

"They're all either stupid" Zan said "or evil. I'd choose stupid for my side."

"This guy's both though" Rez said. The guards were astounded and totally fear-stricken. Reginald shrugged his shoulders and rotated his head with a sharp breath.

"Now then" he began with a gruff voice and steel-sharp eyes, "who's next? Kurururu...." Just like that, the alternate personalities of the scientist fused. The battle-manic monster Drakengard and the stern and proper man Reginald had become one, all the raw strength and berserk power with the mind of a genius. A truly formidable adversary! Thank god, for now, he is on the side of the Buster Pirates.


	69. Press On to the Open World Outside

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Reginald ran with a growl at the shocked guards. He made a dashing kick that sent one high up and bounced him off the wall. Then he stomped that foot and threw both his arms forward, bashing two guards into two others. There was just one very frightened man wielding a spear against the overwhelmingly powerful foe that was the demonic Drakengard left. Reginald just gave him a stern glare and he fell down. Then, feeling confident from vanquishing a whole line of weaklings, Reginald spun around at the waist and flashed a thumb up at the observing Rez and Zan.

"He's happy" Zan pointed out. Rez looked very bored and bothered with a dark shade over his eyes.

"He's too happy" Rez said. "He reminds me of the idiot Bard."

"What's wrong with Bard?" Zan asked. "I think he's a fine captain."

"I'll admit" Rez said, walking forward with Zan on his shoulder, "that he's a good fighter. Hell' he's a better fighter than you or me, but he's an idiot! A golden-haired moron. He shouldn't be put in charge of even pulling up the anchor on the ship or keeping the deck clean. He'd throw the anchor on somebody or scrub so hard the wood would come off!"

"Strength" Zan began "does not always bring knowledge or responsibility. Give him time and he'll grow to be a great captain."

"You think we have that kind of time?" Rez asked. Reginald was still fighting away from them. He picked up a guard by the ankles and swung him around like a mace, bashing away the other guards who attempted to encroach upon him. Rez and Zan ignored his rampage and made for the stairs. "This is the Grand Line. We could all be dead tomorrow from who knows what! Bard is still wet around the ears as far as being a captain, or even a pirate, is concerned."

"True" Zan admitted. "Perhaps he just needs more practice in flexing responsibility." Rez and Zan both ducked down to dodge a flying, screaming guard that Reginald had thrown.

"You think he'll get that practice here?" Rez asked.

"Anything's possible" Zan said. "Like you pointed out, this is the Grand Line. Fortune and dread are waiting behind every tossing wave out there." Rez smirked in response and started slowly guiding his friend down the stairs.

"Halt!" a guard shouted form down the steps Rez walked. "None shall pass!" Rez drew out his gunblade with lightnings speed and shot him with a rubber bullet. The guard was sent flying off the steps and into an ornamental brass pole that held unlit candles.

"Ah shut up" Rez taunted. He twirled his gunblade before sheathing it and finally hit the ground floor he was waiting for. "There's the door. Let's go."

"Seems a bit coincidental" Zan pointed out "that there aren't any guards from here to there."

"Don't jinx us" Rez warned. "We're lucky right now. Let's just leave it at that." Reginald incapacitated the last of the guards above. Now he was going down to join the pirates in his own pompous way. He made a break for the stairs, but he didn't go either right or left to head down. Instead he just dropped straight down with a flip in the air. He landed with a roll and came out of it in a pose. His feet came together, his legs straightened and curved back a bit, his torso curved forward and his neck was flexed hard so his head wouldn't move in appropriately. He brought his huge arms around in full, opposing circles to join them at the backs of the wrists at his waist. Then he cocked his elbows out and flexed everything he could, from his toes to his chest to his arms and even tensing up his face to reveal its startling detail, and held that pose for a few seconds.

"Nice pose" Zan quietly complimented. Reginald broke it at once and made a modest, slumping, hand-waving, stupid-smile pose.

"Aw, that wasn't much" Reginald humbly said.

"This guy..." Rez began insultingly. A whole legion of soldiers armed to the teeth with spears, swords, shields and the odd crossbow came out of nearly nowhere.

"Hark!" Reginald shouted. "The Royal Guard is here!"

"Hark?" Zan repeated. Reginald was too late in catching his personal blunder and ignored it. He got into fighting pose, squaring himself off against the unholy line of emotionless armor suits, and made a menacing face. His fingers writhed and ringed, ready to grab some poor man's throat and throw. He let his arms go out from his body, rather than keeping them close for defense, giving him a sort of odd wrestling pose to fight with.

"Dammit" Rez cursed softly. He made a grab for his broadsword with his free hand and kept his grip tight as a gesture of threat. "Can you walk on your own?"

"I'll be alright" Zan said. "Just lure them close to the walls if you can. I can easily take care of them there."

"I gotcha" Rez growled. He adjusted his bandanna while Zan limped into and through the nearby stone wall. Now all one could see beneath the red band beneath black hair were the mad and scanning eyes of a monstrous duelist. _Right now I count about thirty of these guys. Each of them has enough weapons to arm four men. Worst case scenario, ninety more guards come out of the masonry and equip themselves off of these guys. I should switch to normal bullets for this fight. Rubber won't do me any good._ "Got it" Rez said aloud.

"Got what?" Reginald asked.

"A plan" Rez said, rearming himself with a huge clip of bullets from his jacket pocket. He loaded both guns with ludicrous speed and sheathed them again. He stood cocksure, with his arms crossed and heels together. He seemed less ready for battle, but in truth, he was more ready than his line of enemies.

"What-ho!" the front most guard shouted. "The crazed Drakengard has sided hisself with the heathen likes of yonder knave! Let us make proud our King and country! Slay them both!"

"Aye!" the guards shouted in unison. Rez and Reginald mentally prepared themselves. The battle was beginning!

* * *

Out in the courtyard the fighting had taken a temporary stand-still. The shocking ugliness of the White Knight's true face was so displeasing that the King excused himself from his audience for a moment to properly vomit. Gretta leaned with boredom in her seat, having expected the whole moronic circumstance all along and wondered why no one else did.

_This place_ she internally sighed _is so full of predictable idiocy. After all I have seen on this island, right now I feel as if I have seen enough. It is boring. I just wish these outlanders would abandon fair play and finish off this stupid tournament of losers so I can see Mr. Demon fight again._

The crowd was equally displeased with the results of their valiant knight's true, hideous face. They decided to whisper about other things, like how strange this tournament was and how unexpected the results had so far been. A young girl with nearly no physical strength had already bested the brutishly strong seamstress Morgan. Now the demon girl was almost out of energy and still had a newly enraged knight to face.

"I..." Edmund began, "I shall smite thee! Prepare for divine retribution, foulest of Succubi!" He came hard upon Collen. She raised her armored arm to block his sword strikes, but the difference in actual strength was surprising to her. Edmund kept swinging predictably for her neck, trying for a quick kill by decapitation. Colleen kept her arm up and braced it with her free hand, feeling the still warm metal of her heat cannon with her bare skin.

_Should I use it again?_ Colleen asked herself. She felt an odd collapsing in her legs and fell over. Edmund kicked her and made a stab that she rolled away from, just in time as the sword became lodge deep into the stone ground. Colleen could have attacked, but she needed to breath and think much more. _I...I can't keep going like this. I can barely stay standing. Besides that, I've never used my Hellcat so rapidly before. It's too much on my body. The steam especially is what drains me. Perhaps I should give in and request miss Araly's help. But then, I will abandon my honor, I will dishonor Captain Ramone!_

"Oh my" Emily sighed from the stands. "I do hope Sir Edmund can keep up with that...wicked girl..."

"Well said" a fellow villager agreed as they watched. Edmund pulled his sword out finally and came for Colleen. She tried to back peddle away, but ended up tripping over herself to dodge a mighty swing for her head. Edmund made another ground-sweeping swing for her neck but missed as she rolled away. Colleen got up to crawl but the mad Edmund grabbed her wavy blond hair and yanked her to her feet.

"Now die!" Edmund growled. Coleen struggled for a moment, knowing the sword behind her would soon chop through the flesh of her neck, but the tiredness she suffered from consumed her and she fell forward. The sword came in a perfect horizontal swipe for her neck, but in falling she had made Edmund lose his hold. Her beautiful, silky hair flowed through his grasp and got cut in place of her neck. She was alive, but unconscious...and Edmund was angry. "Wench! You dare to mock me even now!? You are dead! Defeated! Admit the sorrowful cause of your fall or be swiftly destroyed!"

"Oh no" Araly said. She decided enough was enough and hopped down to the ground with cards and cloth at the ready. "I can't let this happen! Colleen is a good person, even if she's a pirate, and she can't die!" Araly was coming fast upon Edmund, who noticed he by the crowds reaction of shouting.

'The other one approaches!' 'Turn around!' 'Watch thy back, Sir Edmund!' 'Turn now!' By these shouts Edmund had gathered that he was in danger. He spun on his heel gracefully with an ugly face full of hate and started rushing at Araly.

_Oh that's right_ Araly nervously said to herself as she skidded to a stop. _Sword slices cloth and paper. That's why I wasn't attacking earlier...heh heh..._ After her nervous realization she started fleeing at full speed. Edmund chased her down quite quickly with his superior speed and tripped her with a fast sweep to her legs. _He's fast! _Araly realized. She hit the ground rolling and stopped with one hand clawing the ground to face her opponent. He approached with a vengeful sword held high over head, ready to slice Araly's skull open. She made a desperate move and threw a piece of cloth over his eyes.

"Gack!" Edmund shouted, dropping his sword behind him. "I am blinded! And it burns! IT BURNS!!!" Edmund was reduced to a writhing, twitching pile on the ground.

"I made that ink" Araly said "with lost of spices. I call it the **Tabasco Blinder**. You won't see anything for a long time, buddy." With her piece said, Araly made a break for the disabled Colleen and inspected her quickly. "Colleen!" she shouted, holding the poor girl's cheeks. Her hair was cut in an oddly stylish way. The sides continued down past he shoulders at their original length, but the back of hair, from the top of her head to the part beyond her neck, seemed to end abruptly from the cut. It was like looking at waves stopping in mid-motion from above as they impacted on the cliff face of an island. Her hair still had its original oceanic splendor, but now it was much shorter.

"Uugggghhh..." Colleen moaned painfully. She finally opened her eyes and started panting. "I can't keep fighting" Colleen admitted. "Araly, I'm sorry, but I can't move either. Can you carry me to safety?"

"Of course" Araly said. She picked up Colleen and dragged her with her heavy arm clanking on the ground beside her. The audience was in a quiet and fearful awe as they watched Edmund cry and toss around on the ground while the enemies made a slow escape.

"Curses!" Edmund shouted. "CURSES! Know this, you women, I have never let an enemy get the best of me!" He finally stood up and ripped off the bothersome, spicy paper. "You....you and your Pepper Paper! Young miss, beautiful though you may be, you have incited mine wrath! Prepare for an early grave!" Araly finally set Colleen among some safe and soft brush, and now she turned sternly to face her red-eyed opponent. Araly adapted her own serious, nearly emotionless, pirate-fighting mentality and prepared for her round two.

* * *

And, of course, the battle between Bard and Ramone continued to quietly rage far away from the fighting.

"Another tie" Ramone said blankly. "You sure you can keep going?" Bard had long been reduced to a blithering, sad heap of his former self. All those ties and all this time without any possible progress being made had broken him.

"It's impossible!" Bard sobbed. "Statistically, this crap is impossible! Admit it already!" he bellowed, thrusting his finger at Ramone. "You can predict the future, can't you!? One of this bugs is a fortune-teller!!!"

"That doesn't make sense" Ramone said. "Let's just go again. We aren't going out there at the same time." Another match, another tie, and Bard started shaking. He fell to the ground and pounded his fist into the dirt out of frustration. "Why don't you lose on purpose?"

"I've been trying!" Bard admitted. "You're too good!"

"Ggggg...." Ramone growled. "We're gonna die here..."


	70. A Deadly game of Cards

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

In a room with a marvelously high-vaulted ceiling of stone and ornaments of Gothic wood and stone a battle suddenly erupted!

"Tally-ho!" the leading knight shouted as he ran forth.

"ORYAAAAHHH!!!" Reginald roared. He stomped far forward with one leg and punched hard with the opposite arm, leaning into the blast as much as possible. He dented the breastplate armor into a permanent punch that picked the knight up off the ground and forced him far away through the air.

"BOLLOCKS!" the knights shouted in pain. The rest of the company was impeded with fear for but a moment, giving Reginald enough time to continue his rampage. He picked one man up by his armored head and threw him against three others. When he was jabbed at with a spear he broke it with a chop and ax-kicked the shoulder of said jabber.

"Have at ye!" a knight shouted, charging in with a sword and shield drawn. Reginald took his armored boot to the bottom of the shield and kicked it into the knight's throat. The knight chocked and wobbled away until Reginald gave him a glorious punt up to the ceiling. The company formed full circle around him and his ne'er do well accomplice with spear men making threatening thrusts and swordsmen shaking and rattling their steely bars against their opposition. Reginald found himself trapped and grimaced with his body well spread for fighting.

"I'll be having none of this" he snarled. _Wait, why am I talking like that!? Is the drug still within my system? No, then I would have thought 'is the drug in my system still', I'm alright, I'm just a bit frazzled right now. These overwhelming numbers don't bode well for Rez and I._ Rez thought different.

"What's wrong, knave?" a deep voiced knight called to Rez. He stayed as statuesque as he had always been, arms folded and heels together, waiting for someone to move out of line and attack him. He was in counter-attack mode, and he was a dreadfully serious as solid in his stance.

"Try poking at him" a knight whispered to a spear-wielding brother. The spear went forward and just stopped out of Rez's range. Then it retreated.

"He moves not" a knight observed.

"Perhaps he has passed out?" a knight asked.

"Approach him and see" another suggested. One random sword-wielding knight was pushed out of the circle and toward Rez. At first he was hesitant, but then he became assured by his brothers. He approached Rez and wagged his sword in his face, seeing no movement anywhere. Rez was lost in his duelist world and could not be stirred at the moment.

"He is died" the knight mocked. "His mind no longer lingers here! He's a nob-head!" The knights all chuckled softly at the remark. The taunting knight took his eyes away from his frozen opponent and made another sniping joke at his expense. "He's got no more wits to him than a rock! No more a mind that a hors-fly! He's a gob-stopper this one!" The knights started busting up with loud and cacophonous laughter.

Rez suddenly snapped out of his world in mid-movement. He was lurching forward with his right leg pulling his body and his left arm reaching for a gun. The knights all started freezing up in fear at around the same time, but the knight closest to the danger was far too late in his reaction. Rez was almost upon him, the glare of his metal blade now shining from its sheathe. The knight made a brash move and started raising his sword to strike Rez down.

It was instantaneous. Rez caught the arm of the sword in his right hand, quick-drew and shot his left-side gun with a heavy rubber slug, and dented the knight's armor, stunning him. The bullet then bounced from face-plate to face-plate according to Rez's absolute and perfect calculations. One bullet stunned and felled seven men.

"Boom" Rez said in a near whisper. He twirled his gunblade stylishly around his finger and pulled his captive body in close so he could kick it away at the remaining linemen. He had thinned his aggressors by almost half now. The rest were keeping a tight line around Drakengard, who was still keeping them away enough that he couldn't grab any of them. Both young men seemed to be in some tough spots at the moment, but it would only get better as they fought.

"This is getting boring" the stone wall said tiredly. Only one knight heard it and turned in shock to see the demon wall that spoke aloud. The solid stone started melding and morphing into the shape of a man with angular hair that formed a sort of pyramidal spike atop his head with largely serrated bangs and two metal bumps above the left eye. "Even if I'm hurt, I can still fight." Before the man could gasp or scream, Zan was upon him. He jumped from the wall and scared his enemy stiff with his phantasmic appearance.

"**Phantom Grip**" Zan sternly but quietly incanted. He phased his hand almost effortlessly through the soldier's metal armor, through the leather underneath, through the cloth underneath that, then through the flesh and muscle and blood all the way to the heart. He solidified enough of his hand to grab that heart and keep it from beating as loudly or as well. Now his enemy was slowly dying and silently breathed for help.

"Good night" Zan said. He waited for his enemy to fall totally limp, his heart nearly motionless and dead, then retreated his hand. He would not kill someone so unworthy in such a crowded place. His hand was bloodless, dry as when it entered, and so he left with no evidence of his attack but the glint that caught him in the corner of Rez's super-analytical eye.

"Grah!" Reginald shouted in frustration. "I don't have time for all you weak little sprouts! I need to have it out with that motherless pig, Rupert!"

"How dare thee!?" the knights shouted in great disgust. "Ho dare ye, to say such filthy things about our great king! Prepare for death!" Rez made another precise shot that went straight through his line into the other, hitting all the enemies immediately in front of Reginald, cutting him a path.

"Press on, Rezland!" Reginald called. "We shall meet again before this battle ends!" Reginald jumped across the hole Rez made him and started for the exit. In front of it he saw two brass candle holders and stretched his arms out to scoop them up. These would be his weapons for the remainder of his fights within the castle.

"Good luck" Rez quietly said.

"Drakengard is retreating!" a knight from Rez's front announced.

"Nay!" another knights said with dread. "He hunts our great king Rupert! We must chase him down!"

"I think not!" Rez said. The knights returned their attention rightly on Rez, who now held his huge gun in its proper sword-wielding stance. "You're either finishing your fight here...or you're not going anywhere!" The knights were afraid, that's for certain, but the love of their king gave them the confidence to stand and face down Rez...with fear in their eyes.

* * *

Edmund held his sword tightly in hand and charged forward, tears streaking his ugly, ugly face. Araly was ready. She retrieved a slip of paper with metallic writing on it and held it like a thin knife in her fingers. Edmund instinctively slowed down and stopped just short of what seemed to be Araly's range.

"Pray tell madame" Edmund started, "what does that particular card do?"

"It kills you" Araly said bluntly. She wound up her arm and prepared to pitch her new card. Edmund brought his sword up to guard what was left of the thing on his head that he called a face. Araly threw her card and it carved itself into Edmund's sword, slicing it apart near the hilt. The card was solid and straight as steel, the ink obviously providing some kind of hardening metal powers. "**Razor Card.** Cuts like steel, light as paper." The audience gasped.

'Does her witchcraft know no end!?' 'How long must this fighting go on!?' 'He is uglier than all sin!' were the very mixed reactions of the tense crowd. Gretta was getting quite interested at last, using a pair of binoculars to keep track of the action as it unfolded. Colleen was officially out and Araly was doing well to hold off her own opponent using nothing but enchanted paper. However, Edmund was not only a brilliant swordsman in the royal guard, he was a quite notorious hand-to-hand fighter as well.

"I shall show ye" Edmund threatened. He struck a pose, legs straddled apart and arms pumped at his sides with tight fists clenched. He started walking in a bow-legged shuffle forward with his hands coming up in a grabbing motion at Araly. If this was his style of fighting it was ridiculous, so much so that both Gretta and Araly made an unamused scoff.

"Afraid, are ye?" Edmund growled, inching ever closer. The audience curled up to the backs of their seats, Emily excluded. The bug was still on her shoulder, after all, and disturbing could kill her. "I can see it in your beautiful face! Thou have shown me fear! Now witness my aged and amazing weaponless style of grappling that I have brilliantly named 'Wrestling'!!!"

"You didn't invent that" Araly said factually. "Wrestling has been around for a really long time in the real world." Edmund stopped and considered his rebuttal. The audience stayed on edge for the most part, waiting anxiously for the next words or actions to unfold. Edmund spun his head around with an embarrassed, huge smile and white bulging eyes. "Idiot!" Araly angrily added.

"I've had enough of this" Araly said. She reached into her sack of paper and pulled out one very special card made of golden and black ink. The character was very similar to the design she made for the Buster Pirates, a dragon's skull, with two triangular jaws and rows of sharp, triangle teeth with two mean, slanting eyes against and a pair of pointed horns against crossbones behind. The gold and black mixed and swirled around in a magical way on the slip of paper, making dancing patterns of light in the air. _I'll need a really good name for this card..._

"I've wasted enough time!" Edmund shouted, snapping back into his wrestling pose. "I shall break all your beautiful bones!" The audience was now tired of Edmund's overly dramatic idiocy. Even Ramone pulled out his living eyeball form Emily's shoulder and allowed her a heavy sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness that is over" she said under her breath.

"On the contrary" Gretta said from behind, leaning down over her shoulder. Emily turned in shock to see what had taken the post that the dreadful fly had left open and saw her princesses expressionless face and gold-plated binoculars. "This fight has only begun."

"Hiyah!" Edmund shouted. He made a flying leap at Araly, who dodged him elegantly. Edmund crashed to the ground on his back while Araly retreated.

"I need a plan" she said. "This won't work unless it touches his skin." Edmund made a desperate and childishly unskilled somersault away. He tumbled over himself, his legs flailing in the air, until he was able to push himself up and get back into position.

'Are the wells ready yet?' some woman asked. 'Mayhaps the hunting is good' a male noted. 'I feel like baking' a young woman said. All this care-free banter brought about by the total loss of interest to the actual fighting made Edmund start a nervous sweat in an uncomfortable pose. Araly took advantage of the stillness in her enemy's actions and ran forward, ready to plant her new mystery card.

"HAAAAAAAHHH!!!" Araly roared. Edmund unfroze a second too late, and the card was punched, literally punched, into his disfigured nose. The color drained from the ink and went into his skin. The gold and black stirred around all over his scarred face and worked its way down on the rest of his body. While he was stunned in fear Araly took a moment of silence to think of the perfect attack name before the effects of the ink fully culminated.

"What goes on here?" Edmund said fearfully. This new twist brought some interested gazes from the audience once more. They saw the swirling colors even from their distance and became very curious. "What happens? Lord above, what hast thou done to mine form!?"

"One second" Araly said, cocking her hips and cupping her chin thoughtfully. "I'll tell you what that was as soon as I think of it."

"Little wench!" Edmund growled. He took his middle and pointer finger of his right hand and reached then down to his armored wrist. He retrieved a hidden dagger from within his gauntlet and wielded it like a knife. "I'll rend your beautiful face off!" Araly didn't budge at the threat. Edmund started stomping forward and she still refused to move. The more he charged the harder and heavier he found it was to take a step, until he was reduced to a quivering and sweaty pile of ugly man at Araly's feet. Suddenly, out of nowhere, inspiration struck her! It was like lightning! Araly placed a triumphant foot upon her quivering victim's back and forced him down.

"HA-HA!" Araly laughed with a great, bellowing voice. "Fool! Only an unwise man like yourself would think he could beat me with nothing but strength of body! In order to resist such a powerful hex you need immense strength of spirit! Willpower! Confidence! You have fallen prey to my deadliest and most powerful spell, **The Buster Pirate Special: Golden War-Paint!**"

"Why is it called war-paint?" Edmund asked exhaustedly.

"Yes, why!?" some random man shouted.

"Wait one moment and see" Araly said playfully. She turned Edmund over on his back and let him get up to face the audience. Suddenly he felt a punch at his face, a light and dainty one like what Araly had used to deliver this painful curse. Then he felt another, coupled with a simultaneous punch to the throat. Then another joined them to the chest, two more to the shoulders, five around the gut, four more on his head, eight up and down his legs, two good solid ones right on his eyes: it was a one-sided beatdown delivered by only a single punch! "The paint absorbs damage and then transfers it all over the body. If I had just placed it on you nothing beyond a little post-marathon tiredness would have happened."

Edmund was too busy twitching around and writhing about while the rapid punches started accumulating massive welts and bruises all over his armored body. For a girl Araly could punch rather hard, a practice she had worked up against Bard after so many years of getting him to shut up. The punches did not even start to die down when Edmund fainted. Even unconscious he had to endure the limitless pain until this ultimate eel toxin wore away.

"That settles that" Gretta announced. "The winners of this regal tournament against the best of our kingdom are the Blond Demon Girl and the Witch with Brilliant Fashion!" The audience waited for a few moments to start applauding. Gretta led them in a perfectly patriotic cheer that everyone participated in. Even with the dread of seeing these two young women win, the excitement and spectacle moved the crowd to anxious smiles and roars of encouragement.

"Next" Gretta began "we shall have a royal duel between either the Blond boy...or the Demon King..." The audience stopped applauding out of fearful respect. Ramone's reputation preceded him in awful ways...


	71. Bard's Fond Memories

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The time has come! The great regal battle royal! King Rupert shall fight one of the two nefarious intruders. But who will it be? The happy blond pirate or the Demon King?

They haven't decided yet.

"DAMMIT!" Bard shouted. He drew his hand back from, yet again, another painful tie and slumped down on the ground. His eyes were pouring out tears of frustration and his teeth clenched hard as he babbled incoherently. Ramone just stood and watched him. His eye returned and flew into its socket at last, making him whole.

"Huh" Ramone grunted. "Looks like I'm up."

"What for?" Bard muttered.

"I'm going to fight the 'king'" Ramone declared. "Don't wait up."

"Hold on!" Bard demanded. He shot up and grabbed Ramone's shoulder just as he was about to depart. Bard tightened his grip, gesturing that he wouldn't let him go so easily. "We still haven't decided who's going to fight!"

"Gggg...." Ramone growled. He slapped Bard's hand away and leaned in to glare up through his greasy hair at the blond giant. "Look kid, I can appreciate a good attitude under trying circumstances but don't press yer luck! I've been waitin' to kill this guy for a year! You've barely been here a day! Just step back and let me handle my own damn business!!!"

"That's not how it works" Bard said. "I won't let you do it just because you want. You need to honestly beat me or come up with your own method of choosing!" Ramone formulated a plan at that very moment. He turned away, keeping Bard in the corner of his eyes, and threw off his coat with a shrug of his arms. Under the ragged coat was a shiny, better-than-new skin-suit that came up his back with a thin, flat piece of elastic which encircled his neck. His exposed shoulder blades were marked with horrid scars from years of torture passed.

"Race" Ramone said. "Then we draw. If you beat me there I;ll let you choose second in the draw, after me." Bard blinked. Ramone turned around and shifted his feet to run. Bard wouldn't be beat. He set himself up for a very simple and efficient Soru sprint through the brush and bramble of the deep woods they were hidden in. Ramone set himself up as well and ringed his fingers on each hand until they cracked.

"Ready" Bard said, now taking over the race. "Set..." Ramone was willing, it seemed, to play by the rules. He waited for the next word with twitching ankles. "GO!"

"**Blind Beetle!**" Ramone shouted. He threw his hand off of his arm and hit Bard in the face. Then he started sprinting off through the woods and into the far side of the garden.

"Hark!" a woman in the stands shouted in fear. "The Demon King approacheth!"

"We are doomed!" a man added. Gretta pulled up her binoculars and saw the evil, manic Ramone bashing away the innocent shrubs that stood in his way. He used his stumped arm to draw out a swarm of bugs that flew around him as a cloud and devoured everything that crossed his path.

"Save us, noble and great king!" a random peasant cried. Emily sat as daintily as ever. She was unphased by the events transpiring. She watched the Demon King coming and her face was just as stern as Gretta's. Although, Gretta had more admiration in her eye than anything.

"HIYAAAAAHH!!!" Bard roared through the trees. He exploded out with a hand on the giant beetle that clung to his face. He slowed down as he approached Ramone and yanked the bug off. "You forgot this!" Bard shouted. He threw the bug back at Ramone's face, but it just redirected itself with its folded wings and landed on his arm where it scurried back up to his hollow wrist and reformed into a hand. "That...is an amazing ability you have" Bard said very factually.

"Get the hell back" Ramone growled. "**Mi-Go!**" His left arm turned into a giant centipede which cackled and clicked before attacking Bard with its steel-ripping maw. Bard leaped away, losing ground, then decided to really crank out the speed and passed Ramone on his powerful legs without the aid of Soru.

"You're stupid arachnid can't defeat me!" Bard declared. The stupidity of Bard's comment and the audacity he said it with actually made Ramone slow down and nearly stop. Mi-Go intervened with Bard's pace with a quick jab of its head to his side. Bard was reeled back a ways, his organs taking a full brunt of an attack. Bard coughed loudly as he started to veer away out of pain, but his goal was already in sight. He raced, assumedly, for the bleachers where the villagers were seated.

"Oh no!" a man shouted in terror. "They come this way!"

"Save thyselves!" a woman screamed. Everyone started panicking and running around, trying to leave the area as soon as possible. Only Gretta and the psychologically hardened Emily stayed seated.

"What's all this ruckus?" the great, booming voice of the king called from beyond the high stone wall. All panic ceased. Ramone glared ahead to catch a glimpse of his target. Bard started catching up and pulling ahead, which prompted Ramone to go all out with his offensive tactics.

"**Yi-Go!**" he summoned. His right arm became an identical centipede and started wiggling around viciously in the air. Ramone suddenly made a jump through the air and turned toward Bard with his core muscles. Mi-Go swiped in a wide berth. Bard easily flipped over it. Yi-Go came just as fast under Mi-Go's shadow and hit Bard, sending him backwards with his legs whipping around freely. He had lost too much ground to catch up again

"Dammit" Bard groaned. He looked up at his now jogging foe with the long, living arms and gritted his teeth. With both legs set hard to the ground and a fist between them, Bard prepared for his fastest Soru dash that he could possibly achieve. "**Soru: 1000 Mile Sprinting!!!**" Bard disappeared. Ramone felt a huge wind rush past him and oculd only assume in anger that it was Bard. Fortunately for the menacing pirate, the villagers and caped king at the gates also felt a huge blast of wind. Araly saw the wind wipping up the dust and leaves from her safe area far across the courtyard with the field medics around her and Colleen.

"Bard!?" she shouted. Unfortunately, faster than the speed of sound, Bard was gone and couldn't hear her...or see anything anymore.

* * *

The wind continued to blow Bard's short hair into a bristled fire of gold. He already made his way through the country villa and the salty flat of the docks and was now a great distance out to sea in the Grand Line. He only realized it as he ran out of breath and fell up to his chest in cold sea water on the churning ocean.

"What the hell!?" Bard shouted. "How'd I get out here!?" It took a moment, but realization sunk in at last. "That's right. I must have run too fast. Hahaha! Man, I didn't think I was that powerful! Hahaha!" Then another startling revelation came to him. "Oh crap!" Bard shouted furiously. "That guy's going the beat me for sure now! I need to get back! Let's see, if I'm facing this way now, then the island must be back that way!" Bard made a full turnaround and started swimming. The more he swam the faster he got, until his arms were no longer pushing water but pumping as he made huge splashes with his feet on the surface of the water.

He continued running at full speed, forgoing the exhausting Soru, and started to think. His mind wandered back several years to the time when he was just a boy with the strength of a man. He began to remember some of the things that his adventure had already tried to make him forget, his childhood at his boring little chunk of rock that he called a homeland...

* * *

It was an early winter when this memory took place. Bard was still young, but not so young that he needed the constant supervision of his mother. He was an adolescent now. He made his way up a mountain in his bright shirt and pants with a heavy poncho catching the sharp rain as it sliced between the trees around him. Araly and her brother were behind him with their own heavier ponchos on protect their skin from the bruises this rain could give them.

"Come on!" Bard shouted above the whipping gale. "It's right up here!"

"You said that already!" Araly's brother noted. "Can you make it, Ara?"

"Oh sure" Araly said, a little girl on the precarious edge of her girlish years. She was just a day or two away from her own adolescent experiences, although she wouldn't know it until they hit her. "I'm getting hit with rain so hard that I feel like someone is trying to stab me! I'm just FINE!" Her angry voice carried over the rain and winds to pierce through her brother's ears like daggers.

"Wasn't this your idea?" he pointed out. Araly didn't care for the semantics. All she knew was that she was miserable in the choice she made and was regretting it angrily.

"I can see it!" Bard called as he crested a hilltop. "Come on! I'll meet you in there!" Bard went along on his own, walking through the storm as if it weren't there, with his companions slowly catching up form behind. Finally the fruit of their progress was revealed: a cave with Bard's name crudely carved at the arch of the entrance.

"This is it?" Araly said monotonically. Her brother smiled nervously and tried to make the best of his sister's justifiable anger.

"Well, at least we're here!" he said happily. Both children entered the cave and removed their ponchos in the windless cavern. Bard started them a fire and sat across it from his friends. He made a yawning stretch with his arms high up over his head and a smile stretching his cheeks.

"Ah!" Bard sighed in relief. "What a great place, right? I found it last summer."

"Well why didn't you invite us then!?" Araly demanded.

"Too many bears in the summer" Bard said very plainly.

"How would you know that...?" Araly asked in disbelief. This was all during the time where Bard's antics were only heard of when they pertained to what he did in town. He was well known to be unusually strong for his age, although he wasn't the brightest child, but all the tales he regaled the villagers with fell on deaf ears. No one believed that he, or anyone, could wrestle and fist-fight with the huge mountain grizzly bears under any given circumstance.

"There are only about fourteen bears on this mountain" Bard said rather calmly. "I've only fought a few of them, though. Most of them are pretty young. This is their territory in the summer."

"Shouldn't we leave then?" Dom said with shock. "I mean, what if they come back."

"Fool!" Bard said with a grin. "Bears hibernate in the winter! In the summer, they fight and forage, like animals!"

"THEY ARE ANIMALS!" Araly roared. Her teeth were as sharp and her face as menacing as a bears for that moment, forcing her brother and foolish friend to cower away in fear. She sighed her anger away and curled up closer to the fire. "Anyway, it's a nice cave Bard. I don't see the point in having it, though, unless you plan on living here."

"Well" Bard began "I had thought about that, but then who would do my laundry?"

"Good point" Dom said nodding his head. "If you leave your mother you won't have any clean clothes."

"That was the first obstacle I thought of" Bard admitted seriously. Both boys started nodding their heads in tune with each others' rhythm while Araly just watched in amazement and disgust.

"Is it really so hard to wash your own clothes?" Araly asked. The boys made a dramatic gasp at her and drew away. Time wore on. The children waited out the storm in the cave and laughed and joked. Araly found herself quite tired at that point, the march up the mountain and through the windy forest finally taking its toll on her, and she curled up on the floor to go to sleep. Bard remembered just how peaceful and happy she looked when she slept, almost like she weren't even there...

"Say Bard" Dom said, drawing the young Bard's attention away from his sister. "My mom was wondering, well actually she wanted me to ask you, but is your mom ever going to look for a new husband?"

"Hmm" Bard hummed as he thought with his tongue sticking out. "I don't know. Then again, I don't recall ever seeing her talking about that kind of stuff to other women or approaching any other men besides the storekeepers. I guess not."

"Well" Dom continued, "how would she feel about an arranged marriage?"

"Wouldn't any marriage technically be arranged?" Bard said, twisting the meaning of Dom's words. It took a moment for the young lad to recover, but Dom was finally able to piece his words together.

"No" he continued "I mean with you. Do you think she would set you up with a girl to marry when you're older?"

"I hope not" Bard said.

"Why not?" Dom asked.

"My mom would choose the wrong kind of girl for me" Bard explained. "I want a girl who knows how to land a punch, who knows how to box a bear! I want a girl that can fight!"

* * *

And now Bard returned from his pleasant memory to an infinite, empty ocean. He stopped on top of the water, not at all curious as to how he was standing on water, and looked around.

"I guess I ran past the island" Bard figured. Suddenly the water below him became menacing and dark. Two glowing orbs shone out through the deep sea and a meandering, snake-like form started to emerge from the water below Bard. He noticed just in time to make a huge jump away, as a Sea King came up with its nasty jaws clamping for food. "What the hell!?" Bard exclaimed.

Not only was he lost, but a serpentine Sea King was with him! With the battle at the island raging on and a new battle developing out at sea, what hope do the brave Buster Pirates have to win the day?

It turns out that Bard isn't the only person lost, as Marco had led his gang of bear-mounted pirates straight back to the Imperial Dragon flagship. They delivered a symbolic and unified hand-to-head slap, forcing Marco off his bear.

"IDIOT!" they all shouted, echoing their call through the woods and into the crisp perpetual-Fall air...


	72. Fight like Madmen pt1

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"That was embarrassing" Rez mocked. He stood triumphant with his arms crossed and sword shoved in the ground amidst the wide-spread destruction he had caused just moments earlier. Unconscious, bleeding bodies of mind-warped criminals were strewn about like so many dead bodies in a warzone, although they were not dead but dying. "Hey Zan! Come on, we need to move too!" Zan's face suddenly came twisting from the high stone wall above.

"Just a moment" Zan shouted. "There seems to be another legion coming our way!"

"What's this 'our'!?" Rez shouted back. "I did all the damn fighting!"

"Untrue" Zan noted. "I had to hold back a bit, but I was able to incapacitate most of them that were sneaking up behind you."

"LIAR!" Rez accused. "You were hiding the whole time! Either that, or you're not really hurt!"

"I'm not using my legs in the walls" Zan said. "Moving through solid objects like this is akin to swimming, which makes me a kind of glittering exception to the rule that no Devil Fruit user can swim, but my arms are more than powerful enough to pull me along."

"Those strings!?" Rez mocked. "HA! I doubt that!"

"There they be!" a guard shouted. A whole troop of spear-armed men came from above and prepared to descend with ropes rather than take the stairs. "Stop them! By any means, we must protect the royal life of the Great King Rupert!"

"UUAAAHHH!!!" the rest of the troop shouted.

"Dammit!" Rez cursed. "Zan, swim faster! We need to catch up with Drake!"

"We're nicknaming him now?" Zan asked quietly. Rez had taken his sword from out of the ground and was already off and running. Zan phased back inside the wall and began crawling blindly through the thick gray stone, unable to breath as he swam in solid rock. _This is getting out of hand. We need to regroup as soon as possible and strategize, not run around fighting like madmen. Then again, I'm sure Bard is doing just that with unending enthusiasm._

"Crap!" Rez shouted. "He's a fast runner!" Rez came upon a new room, an widened hallway where at least three others met and converged to separate into five more rooms. Rez was following an obvious path of destruction where even the stone workings of the door frames were scratched and damaged from Reginald's rampage. "This guy can handle himself easily, that's for sure, but what's weird is there aren't any bodies around. Was he just flailing his weapons like an idiot and scared them away?"

A twinge set off in Rez's mind. He looked up and drew out both his gunblades and blocked an incoming downward stab from a man dressed in all red. The doors behind that man were instantly slammed shut and the guards were impeded from proceeding.

"Damnation!" a guard cursed. "That fiend has locked us out!"

"Come men!" another announced. "We can cut him off by passing through the armory and kitchen!"

"HORAAHHH!!!" The troop shouted. Little did they know the true fiend was setting himself up against their real enemy on the other side of the door. Rez managed to jump away and his keen duelist eyes picked up on every detail of his new enemy like an instant photograph. He was a smaller man, shorter than Rez by only an inch or so, and wore an intricate and flowing dress of red with a sharp, stout dagger in hand. His cape and mantle formed around a mask of brass-color with six holes, three in two rows, at the mouth and two reflective golden plates at his eyes. His hooded cape came up in a short spike and went down to his black-booted feet. His pants were tight and red, coming up to a black belt below what Rez saw as thick, leathery red armor on his chest.

"Who the hell are you?" Rez asked.

"Who the hell cares?" the mysterious man hissed. "What's more important right now is you."

"Well" Rez said, "you ain't one of them."

"Correct" he answered, waving his short dagger around with his gloved fingers. Rez noticed some golden studs on the knuckles of the gloves, suggesting to him a degree of hand-to-hand combat training. "What you may like to know is that I am a member of the secretive assassins sect on this island that prevents people like you, who are unpermitted to have such confidential information, from leaving alive."

"I never wanted to know this crap" Rez defended. "Some stupid, busty chick told me!"

"That would be Corporal Kevorkia" the man said. "She warned us a short while ago of you trespassers. Rez 'The Duelist' and an unknown man referred to as 'Zan'. Along with you both Commander-at-Arms Reginald Drakengard has regained his memories and is after the 'King' of the 'kingdom'."

"That's the gist of it" Rez said. He twirled his gunblades around and gripped the handles tightly, preparing to wield them as swords. He took a stance, with one blade out in front turned sideways with the sharp edged facing his opponent and the other drawn back vertically at head level. He took his right leg and turned it away from his opponent so his sideways blade-side was forward and his high-stance blade-side was farther away. "I've got no intention of dying, dude. You're going to have to really try if you want me dead."

"And I will" the man said. He dashed in with his dagger and stabbed. Rez made a step forward and sliced down powerfully with his head-level blade, forcing the attacker's hand almost to the ground. Then, with his other gunblade, he merely had to turn his shoulder out and shot the man in the chest. It was all so fluid that the clash of metal-on-metal and the bang of his gun were almost simultaneous. "...that is...I will kill you...once I get reinforcements..."

The man pushed away, clutched his aching chest where Rez could see no blood, and leaped far up the wall. Rez raised his guns and aimed, but once the man reached the high-vaulted ceiling he was gone, disappearing into the shadows.

"Crap" Rez noted. "Now we got assassins after us. What the hell is next?"

* * *

"I didn't anticipate this" Reginald said in astonishment. He had somehow, by arcane miracles of the castle design, gotten lost and was at a dead end, facing down a door that led nowhere. "I guess I never got to go very far on my own in this place. They always carted me around in a cage." Reginald set the dented candle-bearing poled on the ground beside him, giving him a sort of gilded frame from behind.

Behind is just where someone happened to be. Silently, a figure in all deep red came up. This crimson assassin held not two daggers but two marvelously sharp and smooth long swords. They weren't normal swords or fencing swords but flat and shining with gold-colored cross hand guard. His one's mask looked much more ferocious with three horizontal slits at the mouth and two angled, angry reflective plates of light blue at the eyes. His hood branched off into two points that resembled horns.

"I suppose I could break through the walls" Reginald mused "but then what could I do beyond that?" The senses of danger in Reginald's mind had dulled so harshly from years of cold and dark isolation that it almost didn't register the threat that crept up behind him. As a sword was raised up the singing of its metal against the air echoed into Reginald's ear and he finally felt the same sharp spark of danger that he had ages before. He rolled out of the way, grabbing one of his brass poles as he dodged, and stopped himself to face his enemy.

"You dodged" the man hissed lowly. "I didn't expect you to dodge...That's a demerit..."

"Crimson Killers" Reginald said. "I employed you to keep the prisoners and test subjects in check should they riot. That was some twenty-odd years ago. I had thought you all left already."

"We've been waiting" the man said "with high hopes. It is against our code of conduct to leave without working a bit. Doing so could be...a demerit."

"Code of conduct" Reginald smirked. He laughed at the notion as he stood up and tapped the candle pole on his shoulder like a sword. "That's a funny thing for a mercenary to be talking about."

"That is correct" the man said, pointing with one of his long, thin swords. "I am indeed a mercenary. A point of merit for you. That gives you one against my current fifteen points. I used to have 231...but so many mistakes later I have been reduced to this low number. I can only blame myself for that..."

"I don't care" Reginald said with a grimace. "I need to get out of here!"

"You are riotous" the man exclaimed very quietly. He took his swords up and made a V with them, meeting their pommel ends together at his waist. He spread his legs, the perfectly smooth uniform of blood red draping itself over his legs and down to the ground. His chest armor was covered by a red banner bearing a hidden emblem for the entire brigade and came down in a long cloth that ran over his groin area and down to the carpeted floor. That and his double-spiked cowl signified him as an elite among the ranks of assassins within the guild. "I must stop you! I can earn more merit that way!"

"You're nuts" Reginald said. He took his candelabra post in two hands and began to charge in. He made a powerful swing down, clashing it between the blades that his opponent had crossed to guard himself. The brass pole was barely inches from the man's head.

"Strong" the man said. He slowly started turning his wrists and brought the blades of his swords together, pushing the smooth pole that Reginald had brought down up and out of his defense. "I anticipated strength, judging from you past and your current physique. A point of merit for me."

"Good for you" Reginald said. "Could you anticipate this!?" Reginald let the grip and strength he channeled into the weapon release and it went flying up. Both of the man's swords were now wide out and his wrists were twisted at their maximum. Reginald brought one of his powerful arms down from high and gave a stern punch to the soft-padded chest of his enemy. The attack forced the swordsman to lean back at his waist but it didn't throw him off. Instead he was ready to continue attacking with his swords and started to bring them around.

"KI-YAAAHHH!!!" Reginald roared. He gave his most powerful, flat kick to the man's gut and sent his head unintentionally reeling forward until it smashed into Reginald's knee. It was more painful for Reginald to have a metal mask hit him on a fragile point, but the experience jarred the assassin out of his ready position and made him stumble backwards while he raised his head up.

"We wear the most sophisticated armor in the mercenary world" the man declared with a tired sense of pride. "The only thing that can actually harm us is a sword, and while I do not doubt you have the necessary force to push a sword all the way through my armor, I know well that you do not have one to use."

"So it's a padding kind of armor" Reginald noted. "Synthetics and complex fabrics made to cushion the force of a bullet and stop cannon fire on ships. That kind of stuff? Tell me, is it the prototype or did Vegapunk get off his ass long enough to perfect it?"

"There is another type of this armor?" the man asked.

"That's the **UberSkin Padding**"Reginald explained. "I helped design it. I know it's main flaw!" Reginald caught his brass weapon on its way down and used his insanely mighty hands to pull the candle-holders off and squeeze the rest of the metal at the tip into a fine point. A good spear for stabbing, made in an instant by a remarkably powerful man. "What's your codename? I demand to know it!"

"I will tell you" the man said "out of good merit. I am known as Ricky the Render, and these are my two swords 'Agony' and 'Charlene'."

"...Charlene...?" Reginald repeated curiously.

"Yes" Ricky affirmed. "The one in my right hand is 'Agony' and the left is 'Charlene'." He waved Charlene around a few times just to make sure Reginald saw it properly. Reginald looked somewhat disgusted and almost lost the grip of his spear. The stupidity of the situation had just skyrocketed for him.

* * *

_Dammit_ Reginald cursed internally. _I'm a scientist, a researcher in the field of human minds and endless potential drives! Why am I fighting the crazy one!?!?!?_The crowd outside waited on bated breath for their king to march his way through the gates once more and face down his enemy. Ramone stood with his coat recovered, blowing in the winds as it was draped on his shoulders. His curled and uncurled his fingers many times out of impatient habit and growled softly. Gretta was half-hiding in her chair with her hands raised up to her blushing face like a woman on her wedding night. Seeing the man himself, in the flesh, brought odd redness to her otherwise bone-white cheeks.

"I am fearful" Emily admitted to no one in particular. "What may happen if this cruel Demon King does decide to kill us all? Who could stop him?"

"Oh my" a man said after hearing the girl. "Now I am worried as well!"

'What can we do?' 'Who can protect us?' 'Maybe we should leave!' The mixed reactions continued on until Ramone looked over at the audience and growled.

"Ggggg...." he lowed. Silence spread instantly. The only sound after that rose above the wind was the occasional gulping. Ramone decided, as one ruggedly-bearded man gulped, to make an example and let his demonic centipede out to intimidate the crowd. It whipped over to the gulping man's face and forced him to faint. "You are all maggots. There is no one who could save you if I so choose to kill you all. You came to see a demon fight and, well, demons don't always have a good regard for human life."

The audience was getting visually fearful now. Every body was shaking and tense from his threats.

"Face it" Ramone said with great finality, "if I want to berserk, **you're all screwed...**"

"Don't be so certain!" a girl shouted out crudely. Everyone turned with soft gasps to see Araly, standing firm with cards in her hand and a scarf around her neck, glaring down the demonic Ramone. "We may be against the same people, but I'm definitely not on your side! If you make any stupid moves for the audience I'll make sure you lose your fight!"

"Gggg...." Ramone growled. He was about to let Mi-Go run rampant and kill several people just to jerk a response out of the girl, but seeing the fierceness in her eyes he sighed and let his anger go. "Understood" he said. "Now shut up and take a seat." Araly sighed with great relief and sat down on the wooden bleachers. The people moved away from her, but not out of horror. They wanted her to be alone out of their unseen respect.

"Thank you" someone whispered almost totally silently. Araly sat with pride, hands folded on her lap, and nodded to reply. Colleen was still out cold under the treatment of Araly's moisture-implanting cloth so her system would rehydrate faster, and was lied down in the shade of the garden's closest tree. Now that Bard had left Araly was alone, the only pirate present without totally malicious intent. She had to make a stand for herself and her motives, for her crew and her captain...

...or else evil would ultimately triumph in the eyes of these people.


	73. Fight like Madmen pt2

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

In the wait for their king to arrive the crowd had again become restless. Ramone had retrieved his coat thanks to his crawling centipede comrade Mi-Go and had it draped over his shoulders like a cape with the heavy leather sleeves blowing in the mild breeze. Now that the end of all his suffering was in sight his impatience swelled. He didn't want to wait another second for what he had waited for one year and a day to do.

"Ggggg...." Ramone growled. "Why isn't he out here, getting killed by me, yet?"

"Be patient" Gretta called through an archaic but effective bullhorn. "My father is just nearly prepared. He is suiting himself up as a measure of protection against you're demonic abilities." Behind the high stone wall of the courtyard, King Rupert was fitting himself with shimmering golden plate armor. Large, bell-shaped pads over his already huge shoulders and a royal vest of shining metal draped with a deep-red tapestry. Over the deep-blue iron greaves he wore on his legs he had a draping cloth of royal purple. Finally, his helmet, was merely a skullcap of rusted-red color that his crown fit upon almost like two pieces of a puzzle that came together.

He had no weapons save for the hands which he kept bare of armor and the thick legs that could crush a stone with a good, hard stomp. His aged white hair from his manly beard rolled out over the upper hem of his regal vestments and his long mane came down over his deep-scarlet cape behind. He was ready, alright.

"He's got one minute" Ramone growled. "If I have to keep waiting, people are going to die."

"Fret not, good citizens!" the jolly old king shouted as he started for the front gates of his estate. Every head turned anxiously for the gate as the pearly bars swung wide open. The feeble people stood up on shaking, weak knees. Araly stayed seated out of her own protesting disrespect for the evils this king had done. Gretta didn't care and stayed seated as well. Ramone glared forward with an increasing amount of hatred as the mighty, shining, colorful visage of Rupert Lioncrest made long, powerful strode into the courtyard. He was met with a roaring thunder of applause and cheering from the stands. The young and old that had gathered from the village below were finally able to see their majestic champion step out to defend them from the plague of the Demon King one more!

"Mohohohohoho!" Rupert laughed mightily. "It has been long, Demon! One year ago I vanquished you into the swamps that border my fine kingdom. Now you have dared to show your face once more, and with the help of more denizens of the darkness below! I say, for threatening the peace of my kingdom, you are not permitted to leave this place alive! You will be sent to my dungeon to live out the rest of your detestful life!!!"

"HUZZAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" cried the crowd. Emily stood straight and applauded, but the odd sternness of her face didn't exude the same cheerful charisma as her fellwo villagers. She was starting to see through things, it seemed, and the chaotic boredom that Gretta saw in the world had broken through into her eyes. Somehow the ture nature of her king was becoming obvious to her, and so she refused to cheer for him. Gretta didn't cheer, however, because she didn't care, and Araly continued to sit and pout in a dignified manor.

"Ah," Ramone growled "shut the hell up, you stupid old bag a' crap!" A collective gasp of disgust came from the crowd. "Who cares about your dumb...whatever. I'm gonna kill ya', that's the only truth here today. More true than the pain you force onto me in those damn swamps, you're gonna die...!" His quiet hiss of threatening speech started to become more than just words. He held out his right hand far from his body and it started to shake. His powers surfaced and his hand started to crack like hardened wax. Then a bulging bubble of fleshy growth came out and his upper arm and hand transformed into a huge, round hive that teemed with deadly bees!

"**Insect Arsenal: Stinger Gatling HELL!!!**" Ramone aimed the hive at Rupert and clutched what was still his arm in his other hand. He dug his feet in, one leg forward and the other back, and started shooting out living bullets that traveled at amazing speeds. Rupert blocked his face and knelt down to maximize his guard. Metal plates shot up from his arm braces that covered his exposed palms, giving Ramone no way of hitting him from the front. However, Ramone did not stop firing. "Gggg....you're a damn idiot..."

"How so?" Rupert smirked behind his guard. The bee bullets that didn't die upon impact with Rupert's armor did not fly into the wall. They circled around with stingers out and wings flapping madly to pierce into the king's back. Ramone guided the bees with the power of his mind, summoning the pheromones within the glands that grew in his hive-body to direct a new course of attack: the king's exposed hands.

"You're a moron" Ramone growled. "Nothing about you has changed since back then...you're still just a god damn idiot!" The bees went straight in with nothing to impede them and pointed their barbed stingers at the flesh of Rupert's hand. The king smiled slyly and clutched his fists tightly. Metal came up from his wrists, sliding and sectioning itself around his fingers. The bees impacted on the metal and simply spun down in a death spiral to the ground. "...huh...!?"

"Mohohohoho!" Rupert laughed. He pumped his arms out, raising his huge armored triceps up to the air, and blasted the air away from his with a monstrous flex. The bees were sent into a chaotic dance in the air and then down to the ground. Ramone's attack had failed, he realized, so he lowered his beastly hive-arm and let the whole huge womb of insectoid death flake off in waxy shrapnel.

"Dammit" Ramone lowed. "Looks like I'll need to actually _try_." Ramone waited for his arm to return to normal, then raised up his other one and started glaring hard at his opponent.

"Foolish youth!" Rupert growled. "I won't allow you to make a signifigant move against me! Prepare to die!" Rupert made a mad dash in while Ramone summoned up some new amazing horror from within himself. A colony of tiny, dark-blue beetles sudddenly dug their way up from inside Ramone's arm and started moving about almost drunkenly to cover every exposed fleshy hole they made on their host.

"**Insect Arsenal: Metal-Eating Beetles**" Ramone hissed. "I'm gonna kill you from the **inside out! GGGGGG!!!!!**" With his growling roar he reeled his arm back far. When the time was perfect he made a huge punch into Rupert's armor. At the same time Rupert moved to kick Ramone away with his huge, powerful legs. The battle was on...

* * *

And now we rejoin Bard as he manages to hold his own against a Sea King far out at Sea. He is currently sprinting up its side with flaring nostrils, wide eyes and pursed, shouting lips.

"HUUOOOOAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!"

Bard had fought as much as he could, throwing Rankyakuu after sharp Rankyakuu at the monster form the water, but eventually the painful reality of his futility set in. He realized that he couldn't make a difference from so far down, so he was taking the fight all the way up to the beast's head.

"You stupid overgrown fish!" Bard taunted. "I blame all of this on you! YOU GET THAT!?!?"

"GRAUUUUUUH!!!" the beast shouted. Bard kept sprinting straight up until he hit a slight curve, then he saw the end of the spiny purple fins that ran along the creature's cerulean blue scales. Bard made a leap forward, wind blasting past him at the high altitude the monster reared its head at, and flipped over himself once as he sailed forward. With a manly roar, Bard extended his right leg out with his left kicking behind him so his mighty heel would come crashing down on the beast's skull.

"RANKYAKU!" Bard roared. The monster reeled its head forward at the last moment and Bard found himself spinning wildly through the air with a leg charged and ready to cut. "Guauauauauaua!!!!" Bard shouted dizzily. The rapid somersaulting he did through the air was making him dizzy as hell. He had forgotten about his initial plan of attack and was now just flipping wildly, hoping to stop. The sea monster reeled back and watched the curious, tiny man flipping end over end all the way to the water. As the waves from Bard's body rippled out the monster gave an amused chuckle, holding its finned tail up to its mouth. Bard resurfaced with a vengance and spat out some water.

"Oh, you're a big funny guy, huh!?" Bard growled. The monster was still chuckling to itself. Bard looked down with a glare and descended under the water. The monster, not forgetting its place as a creature much larger and much more powerful than the tiny man it was fighting, stopped laughing and ducked its head under the water. It saw a sudden flash of rippling water, then its eyes got cut by something long and sharp. With a shrill underwater scream the monster started thrashing about and tried desperately to swim away.

_Take this!_ Bard shouted silently .His body was spinning wildly and with every revolution it made he threw out a Rankyakuu kick aimed in the monster's generally direction. _**Razor Whirlpool!!! **Common knowledge, you stupid monster! Energy can travel much faster through water because the molecules are closer together! All I'm doing is letting the cutting energy from my kicks travel through the water where they act like torpedoes instead of missiles! _While his logic was partially flawed, his attack was technically working. The Rankyakuu blades traveled swiftly, but they were visible. The Sea King had swam away with a flurry of blades chasing it and recovered itself.

"HA!" Bard laughed, letting the air escape from his mouth. He clutched his lips together, foolishly forgetting just where he was, and slowly made for the surface. He broke the surface of the water, somehow climbed on top of it with his hands and planted his feet firmly on solid...liquid. Using a combination of Soru and Geppou techniques he was able to stay afloat through a madly rapid vibration of his legs. He was effectively dancing on the water, but it looked exactly like standing.

"Well that was fun" Bard said. "Now, where the hell am I?" Suddenly, with an explosive watery crash, the Sea King resurfaced and roared into the sky, wiggling its forked tongue high into the darkening sky. Its rows of gnashing teeth were fully exposed to the greatly dim sunlight. It rolled its shining, red eye downward to see its tiny prey...but it was gone. "Dammit..." Bard growled. The monster looked back up to its own eye-level and saw, oddly, its black-clad prey floating in the air with one leg reeled back and arms in an odd position.

"...You're starting to piss me off!" Bard shouted. He whipped his shoulders around, bringing his arms with them as an increase in power, carried all that motion to his hips and leg his leg kick out naturally. The Rankyakuu blade he manifested was huge and nearly point-blank. The monster visibly panicked just a moment before impact and felt the air first blast into and then cut through its tough skin. "STAY DOWN!" Bard demanded. With its red eyes now white, the monster became limp and started to fall. Bard made a Geppou jump over, grabbed it by the fishy tendrils on its sharp chin, and made a motion as if he would throw the beast away. He merely shifted the giant's weight and heaved its chin down so its jaw would hit the water first. It worked, and the giant awoke with a startled roar as it felt its teeth crack and shatter inside its own gums. Blood poured into the sea where Bard regained his footing.

"That takes care of that" Bard said, clapping his hands together. He set his fists on his hips and looked around with his chest puffed out victoriously. "Now, thanks to that stupid Sea King I'm even more lost! Dammit! If only I were a bit stronger I could ave taken it out sooner and gotten back to the-" And then Bard remembered just why he was rushing so badly. "CRAP! That jerk Ramone must already be fighting that other guy! What's his name...um...Robert! Ive gotta haul ass!"

Suddenly, though not very surprisingly, the water started to shake again. The beast, whose head was floating just above the surface with an elevated nose breathing in big huffs of air, started stirring again. It snaked its way up, forcing Bard's eyes to lose their color and his jaw to drop very far down.

"OH COME ON!!!" Bard roared. The beast's eyes suddenly widened in fear and it reeled back slightly. Bard had won the battle indefinitely now. The beast was in a retreating mode, the beat-down Bard gave it registered and made it learn not to mess with tall, golden-headed men in black. When Bard saw the telltale signs of fear in the monster's eyes he lowered his guard and tried to be approachable.

"Say...can you do me a favor?" he asked. The beast didn't respond with movement. It was eying a way to escape this wild, powerful man. Bard saw its eyes scanning the water, so he decided to take a slightly less dignitary approach to his tactic. He lowered his head, casting a shadow upon his face, and cracked his knuckles loudly.

"Let me just say it plainly, then..." he started in a low voice with a grin. The monster tried to retreat, but Bard's Soru and Geppou combo blasted him straight up to the monster's face where he planted his feet on its snout and grabbed at the fearful furrow in its scaly brow, threatening it with a punch to the eyeball. "Can you take me to the nearest island? I'm a bit lost." The smile on Bard's face only made him seem meaner as the grip was creasing the monster's taught skin. Bard's power, both physically and spiritually, had won this fight and the fearful loyalty of this mighty beast.

But even with its help, can Bard make it back in time to save his crew from the misguided wrath of the accused demon Ramone 'The Ghost-Killer' Cervantes?


	74. Fight like Madmen pt3

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

FIGHTING!!!

From out of nowhere, fighting commenced inside the castle! As Rez ran away he was stalked by not a single assassin but a fleet of crimson-garbed warriors who covered their armored bodies with a huge red mantle. Rez defended himself with his twin gunblades but found himself trapped in a spacious room with four adjoining hallways leading in different direction. Stuck at a great forked road ins his destiny, Rez made a stand!

_CRAP!_ Rez thought. _There's too many of them! I don't even have enough bullets for this many at once, and based on the rest of the island, I'll be pretty damn hard-pressed to find more ammo just lying around. Dammit!_

"Looks grim, doesn't it?" one of the villains asked.

"We are invincible" another gloated "because we are so unpredictable! No one ever expects the **Crimson Killers!**"

"Oh?" Rez grunted. "Is that your name?"

"AHH!!!" the same guard shouted in dismay.

"Dammit" another growled, looking at the failure of a killer, "why did you tell him our name!? Now he knows what to call us!!!"

"I'm sorry" the guard apologized. "I was just excited."

"HEY!" a guard shouted, pointing at the fleeing boy. "He's getting away!"

"Son of a bitch!" a guard cursed. They all instantaneously relocated to the myriad of hidden passages in the walls and began stalking Rez again.

"I hope this leads somewhere" Rez said between his huffing breath. He was sprinting hard, pumping his arms and legs with great verve and strength. "Man, I need to keep myself aware as much as I can. Those guys can come from anywhere!" Just then, as he ran through the narrow hallway, he saw a shifting in the scenery. A painting on the wall, one of a beautiful woman seated amongst a host of angelic figures, started to slide along the wall.

_He won't see this coming_ a red guard said with an evil sneer under his bronze mask. He prepared to stab his short spike of a rapier out in the instant that he saw the young man run by, but his ambush had taken an unexpected turn. He had been waiting an unnatural amount of time now. _Where is he?_ The assassin wondered. He stuck his head out slightly and received a swift jowl-breaking kick to the mask. It rang and resonated against his face, transmitting the pain all over his skin, and then an explosive blast of gunfire knocked him out. Rez had stopped just in front of the painting, switched his magazine of rubber slugs to metal ones and waited for his own ambush opportunity.

"I only have six shots left" Rez said to himself. He started running again, stepping on the downed guard's face as he passed. He picked up speed as quickly as he dared and sheathed his gunblade again. An assassin was running behind him, he knew that already, but what was strange is that he could not hear it.

_Where is he?_ Rez thought with an internal snarl. The assassin was indeed following up, up **on the ceiling.** Through the magic or skill of the assassin's art he was running as a red shadow that stayed close behind Rez form high above. Rez saw the hallway making a sharp turn, a wall approaching him with an open air coming from the left. _Now I need to turn_ Rez said. He started sprinting and veering right to make a wide swing around the corner. Then an assassin popped out from around the corner with a nasty, serrated sword poised to slice Rez apart.

"Come on!" the guard shouted. "Come and meet your demise!" Rez stayed steadfast, his expression unchanging from its determines sternness. He continued running forward, then in an instant executed his plan of attack. He jumped up close to the wall on his right and planted a foot on it hard. He drew out both guns, one loaded with rubber and the other with heavy metal, and aimed ambidexterously. The rubber loaded gun in his left hand drifted up and guided his chest upwards as well. He fired at the assassin on the ceiling, almost instinctively, and then a flash of a moment later he fired into the mask of the guard that was now under him. Once his motions were done he crouched down to his knees on the wall and pounced with a flip to the floor, both of his targets down. The assassin hung from the ceiling by a harness, unconscious from the fright of getting hit between the eyes with a loud rubber shell.

"That was easy" Rez said as he sheathed his gunblades to keep running. Just as he picked up his pace he saw one promptly appear out of nowhere with a hand-scythe held at his side.

"This hall is too narrow" the guard taunted "for you to dodge! What now!?"

_Damn_ Rez thought. _I can quick draw him, but hell he's a lot more nimble than I am! I can't wast bullets in a situation like this. Can I block him? Maybe with both swords, but then I'll be stopped and one can appear from behind to kill me! Crap-dammit, what can I do...?_ Rez activated his Duelist Eyes and tried to plan a way around his coming killer, but based on his genius-level observations he had no way out. The reach of the weapon was too long for him to jump over and the space was too narrow for him to dive under and live. It all seemed like a literal dead-end for Rez...

...but then the wall started to move. Rez observed it in his slowed world as first a bulge coming from the stone just a few steps away from his rushing assassin. He kept his eyes locked onto his target so as not to alert him and watched from the edge of his periphery vision. The stone morphed and distended from its wall until it resembled a lean, flat-haired human figure with a knife.

"HUH!" Zan grunted. He made a stab into the arm of assassin, stopping his motion and jarring his mind with shock. "I've been missing some fun, haven't I?" Rez made a lunging stab into the assassin's gut.

"You're just slow" Rez said. The motions all stopped for a moment, then both blades were withdrawn, sheathed and the two carried on with an unspoken bond of mutual defense.

* * *

And elsewhere more fighting continued with the erupting bout between the mysterious stranger in red with his two swords 'Agony' and 'Charlene' fighting against the reformed maniac Reginald Drakengard. Reginald had given up on his assault for now and was retreating from a greatly agile assassin. Ricky the Render closed the distance between he and his target, muttering under his breath constantly about merits.

"I will kill you" Ricky said "in a most gruesome fashion! Such a thing warrants high merit!"

"And I'll twist off your nut-sack!" Reginald threatened. He spun around in his dash, now facing his pursuing would-be killer, and lurched forward as he skid to a stop. He grabbed Ricky's face-mask and began rapidly pummeling his midriff area with his balled fist. The padding made it feel like he was punching cushions and Ricky could vouch that he felt nothing at all save the shock of being unable to move his head.

"I'll snap you in half" Ricky lowed. Reginald stopped punching and waited. Ricky's swords made metallic clacks just before they moved, and they moved with blinding swiftness to chop Reginald right through his own mid-section. He had jumped at the sound, keeping his hand firmly gripped into the angles of the mask. Then he kicked his legs back, flipping himself upside-down with both hands resting on the assassin's face.

"I'll chop off your arms" Ricky said. He brought the blunt edges of his swords up to his face with two very precise flicks of his wrists. They smashed into Reginald's hands, sandwiching them between two hard surfaces at once. Reginald grunted in pain and slipped his hands out of the pointed grip, suffering minor scratches on the backs of each hand. "My sword Agony is sharp enough to cleave through solid stone...I can even smash solid rocks with its unsharpened side. Why didn't your skin get cut, you must be wondering..."

"I don't give a flying-" Reginald began, but his insult was interupted as Ricky finished his hateful speech.

"...it's because" he said, slowly turning, "I didn't wand to chop off your arms at all. I lied."

"Huh?" Reginald grunted. Suddenly a debilitating shock of pain came over him. He roared with pain and fell to the ground groaning and gritting his teeth. The pain didn't come from his right hand where Agony had scratched but his left, where the sword Charlene had left a black scar along his skin. He looked at it strangely and discerned after a moment that his pain came from that exact spot.

"Charlene" Ricky began "is lubricated every hour with fresh 'Blazing Tempest' Jellyfish oil, which can instantly shock the skin cells into a state of frost-bitten pain. That scar will diminish over time, if blood flow is sufficient, but hitting a major artery will allow the oil to travel through your whole body, possibly killing you on pain alone. Charlene is my most powerful weapon." All this useful information and Reginald didn't care. He didn't even look up to acknowledge Ricky's speech. This action confused the strange assassin who moved in cautiously to make sure his enemy hadn't already gone mad with pain.

"Are you alright...?" Ricky asked. Reginald rolled forward from his fetal crouch of pain and pressed down onto the floor with both hands. Ricky started reeling up in surprise, stepping right into the perfect position for Reginald to deliver a tremendous two-legged kick to his reinforced chin. Reginald's Sea King boots cushioned the sharp blow of hitting the metal of his mask. Ricky could only give a sharp "KCHT!" as he absorbed the blow and went flying into the middle of a high wall. Reginald started rolling back, then pressed hard with his arms and kicked up with his feet, rebounding back to solid ground.

"Damn!" Reginald exclaimed, rubbing his blackened scar. "That hurts! You bastard, I need that hand to hit people with!!!" Ricky let out a sick, painful groan and fell down to the floor on his feet. _I can't take a hit like that again_ Reginald thought. _He's bound to be pissed right now because I got the drop on him. Now he's going to try and use both his swords to open me up stab his poisoned sword in whatever wound I get! I need to start focusing on my plan, to exploit the armor's weakest point!_

"Demerit" Ricky said manically. He dropped his sword Agony and brought his free hand up to his face, fingers twitching with arthritic pain from apparently never letting his sword go. "Demerit..." he shivered, voice growing louder. He clutched his mask hard and disengaged the clasps keeping it on his face. Reginald started backing away.

One of the tenants of the Crimson Killers, he knew, was that no living man could ever see their faces. It was a tradition that a member of their corps could commit no murder or act of violence without first being covered and indistinguishable from the others. Their group even had a height limit so all the assassins would be interchangeable in a line-up with regular criminals. By taking off his mask, Ricky was delivering the ultimate threat, that he would kill Reginald with every ounce of his strength.

"**DEMERIIIIIIIITTTTTT!!!!!!**" Ricky shouted, ripping off his mask. His blotched and wrinkled skin was exposed now, eyes wide and white with rage. His teeth were sharpened and edged into two solid rows of fangs and his nose was creepily bent down from the ages of being pressed against a mask that was too small for him. He looked old, at least as old as Reginald if not a bit older. He wasn't a man who should be fighting, not at all, but neither was Reginald and so far he was kicking ass.

"Get over yourself!" Reginald ordered.

"GRYAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!" Ricky shouted in a voice higher and harsher than he had ever used before. "You bastard, you BASTARD! I'll kill you, I'll flood you with pain! You've cost me too many points already!!!"

"You can't touch me" Reginald calmly mocked. Ricky scooped up Agony and started sprinting forward, moving his shoulders but keeping his arms steadily to the side. Reginald prepared himself to move, keeping his black-scarred left hand under his armpit to warm it and increase the blood flow. He scowled at his coming fiendish enemy, and at the last moment he jumped high into the air. While floating for a brief moment he saw Ricky preparing his own leap to chase his target down. Reginald smiled, it was all going according to plan. He would land first, right where he needed to be: next to a dented and fallen candelabra.

"I'LL REND YOU TO PIECES!!!" Ricky the Render shouted at the top of his cracking voice. Reginald gave him a glancing smile as he descended and rolled when he landed. With his good right hand he reached for the candelabra on the ground, then kicked himself into another roll, stopped on his feet after one full roll, and twisted fully around with the weapon tilted straight at Ricky's torso.

"The weakest point of that armor" Reginald said quietly "is at the seams on the side. It's stitched together from one solid piece, which leaves tiny openings and a very delicate tension with the thin threads that hold it together. One stab will separate those threads, splitting the armor fully in half, and another stab would pierce your skin..." Ricky could not hear him. He was focused on the kill. It led him, unfortunately, to another mind-clouding demerit. Reginald clutched the improvised spear tightly in hand and hooked it under his elbow. He stabbed it into the side of the armor and slashed down, splitting the seams totally apart. Then he abandoned his weapon and made a professional combat-roll backwards, dodging the twin diving slice of Agony and 'Charlene'.

"GAAAAHHHHH!!!!" Ricky roared. "Demerit, DEMERIT! I still didn't think you'd dodge me! AAAAHHH! I only have TWO POINTS LEFT!!!"

"And then what?" Reginald asked, waiting for his opponent to get frustrated again, "you'll just kill yourself? No merit means no will to live!?"

"NO!" Ricky shouted. "**I WILL LIVE!!!**" With his growling announcement he made a charge. Reginald stood in front of a pillar, resting upon which high above was a pointed torch holder to illuminate the huge room from above with a dim light in the night. Reginald jumped back, grabbed the pillar with both hands, ignored the pain in his black scar, and flipped over his own shoulders to appear on the wide pillar in an upside-down bear-grip. Ricky stabbed into the pillar with agony, then stabbed higher with Charlene and started climbing. Reginald acrobatically released his arm grip and raised his whole body up using his waist and lower back to pull his back into the pillar. Then he gripped hard with both hands and flipped again. He ascended in this way until he had nearly reached the spiked iron candle-holder while Ricky just stabbed and stabbed with total disregard for safety.

"I disagree" Reginald calmly said, right-side-up with legs pressing into the pillar as his only means of grip. "I think you'll die right here, no merits and no life." Ricky's eyes shot wide open. Only now did he realize the plan Reginald had. His armor was split, his entire left side was exposed to the elements. A row of huge, metal spikes was staring him down just above Reginald's face. The strong arms of Reginald grabbed the metal and pulled it down, reeling his body forward as he went. Ricky slipped off of Agony as a last ditch to save his life and started falling.

Reginald smiled his mad, powerful smile.

"RAAAAAAAAAWWWWGGHH!!!!" he roared, pitching the entire metal fencing structure downward. It fell so fast, so fiercely, that Ricky barely felt it as it impaled him in several different places. He died before he hit the ground, pinned down against the cold, emotionless metal with 'Charlene' slipping from his eternal grip...


	75. Fight like Madmen pt4

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"This is taking forever..." one pirated groaned with weakness.

"I can't even remember" another said "what the sky is supposed to look like anymore."

"Come on guys" Marco called from the front of the bear-steed they all rode on, "we can't be too far away! The captain and the rest of the crew need us!" Marco had led the pirates that were foolishly willing to go along with him in a deathly circle that never seemed to end. They had circled the sea-level marsh of the island at least once and had spent what felt like a lifetime in the woods. It had only been an hour, if that, since Araly left the crew to their own design in search of Bard.

"Just listen for me" Marco commanded. "If we can hear that from here we'll be able to make it back to the crew, at least."

"That?" a crewman asked. "You mean Max's snoring?"

"It's unmistakable for us" Marco said positively. "Just keep your ears sharp." Light shone in through the leaves of the trees and then faded away quickly. The orange and brown of perpetual autumn was starting to aggravate and depress the crew respectively. Marco was the only one who stayed psychologically calm, as he knew the sheer importance of reaching his captain and the rest of the crew took precedence over everything and anything else that may come up.

"I hear it!" a pirate shouted. "Take a left! A sharp left!"

"We're pirates, man" Marco shouted. "Left is 'port'!"

"So that's what that is" a stupid, burly pirate said dreamily. The bear cavalry took a sharp lean port and came into the Buster clearing. All the pirates were surprised but not jostled to see Marco actually find his way back. He hopped off the bear and landed on both feet, then began striding across the camp to Birdman, whom he left in charge.

"Welcome back" the beak-nosed man said. Marco grabbed him by the collar and hoisted him up to his face level. Marco was biting his lip and furrowing his brow demonically as his bandanna followed it. He was mad, obviously.

"Gather the crew" Marco growled. "We need to move out **now!**" He set his comrade down to his bow-legged feet and marched off to the edge of the clearing. He looked up past the trees to the sky and sighed. "Who knows what kind of trouble they're in right now...and we can't help them at all."

"Watermelons" Maxwell mumbled. The strange utterance was like lightning hitting Marco's brain, and he was struck with genius!

"That's it!" Marco shouted. "Grab a squad of mortars and a flank of bazookas! Every man gets a gun and ever gun gets a man! Ready-up, troops, we're forming an army!!!"

"Huh?" the collective crew grunted. Marco turned with his eyes deep with excited rage and a sneer across his face.

"We'll show these bumpkins" he growled "how **Bard's Buster Pirates** handle things!"

"UUOOOHHHH!!!!" the burliest pirates roared. The Buster Pirates are now going to war!!!

And, not a moment sooner, Bard finally re-arrived at the island via the main fishing docks. A slight chilling fog was starting to set in at the bottom of the island where the swamp met the dry un-farmed land. The frightened and defeated Sea King that Bard had so simply conquered lowered its huge head down to the cobblestone curb where the docks were shoddily built from and Bard hopped off.

"Thank you!" Bard called. The Sea King was quick to vanish before Bard could give it another thrashing, not that he would now. "I'll see you out on the sea!" This frightened the Sea King, and in its rush to leave its tail whipped up and shattered the docks to pieces. "...OK! Now, to get back to the castle!" Bard set himself up for a mighty dash, and before he could utter out his magic word he stopped himself and froze in a mid-step.

_Wait a second_ Bard thought. _The only reason I was nearly lost at sea was because I used Soru...Maybe I shouldn't use it right now. If I sprint up that steep incline I could end up sprinting straight up into the sky!...hmmm....I guess I'll just run all the way back normally. _So Bard go up on the balls of his booted feet and started sprinting up the hill towards the plateau where the King and all his men were stationed and fighting...hopefully.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the courtyard, the battle intensified!

"Agh!" Rupert gasped. "These metal-eating beetles are eating through my metal armor!"

"Oh, really?" Ramone exclaimed sarcastically. "Well, that's not what they're supposed to do, you STUPID!!!" Ramone threw his arms forward and forced his wave of insects to press even harder. The bugs chomped away with their sharp, metal pincers. Rupert's armor on his arms was wearing thin and he could already hear the buzzing get louder from behind. In a snap decision he threw his arms apart and spun away in leap.

"How can that help?" Ramone asked, commanding his insects to follow and bite away the armor near his heart. The insects tried to charge in, but Rupert countered their advance by throwing his lavish, royal cape around his body. The bugs stopped in utter confusion and stared flying in circles. Ramone was angered and scowled.

"Mohohoho!" Rupert laughed. "Your bugs can't eat through my cape because it isn't made of metal!"

"Maybe not" Ramone said, "but I can still kill you from here. **Look below you...**" Rupert became curious and cocked an eyebrow. Then he looked down. Mi-Go was already there, wiggling around inside his cloth wrapping, tearing apart the cape that mantled the king so elegantly.

"Gah!" Rupert shouted. He detached the cape quickly and jumped high into the air, away from the dangerous monster insect. Mi-Go made an instinctive thrust into the air to chase, but in the end it couldn't reach and slithered back into Ramone's body. Ramone sighed and watched the king land. "Is that the best you can do?" Rupert asked, visible marks of shallow holes in his gauntlet metal. He was without a cape now, but Ramone didn't summon the metal-eating beetles. Instead he started to summon something else and lowered his head. His greasy bangs covered his face with shadows and a terrible low growling came from the area of his mouth.

"Can't come up with a new attack?" Rupert asked. "I'm a bit disappointed. Come now, you wanted to fight me for so long, and now that the chance to vanquish me rears its head you just freeze up and stop working completely? What a total disappointment, Ramone Cervantes!!!" Ramone slowly started to lift his head up, the dim light from the stormy sky slowly revealing his face. There was nothing there, his face was blank and smooth.

"Come out" Ramone growled through an unseen mouth, "**OMUKADE!!!**" Suddenly his face broke apart. Shards of the waxen material that had been his skin fell to the ground while some giant, slithering beast came out of his body through the hole in his face. Rupert felt the need to retreat, and his skin was crawling end on end. The beast straightened out and revealed its dastardly weapons, long bladed legs with a single elbow-like joint that came from either side of its segmented body all the way from the two clutching at Ramone's neck. Two especially long legs clacked together near its forward-facing end with two joints each, right next to its horrific, screeching face. It had a huge, clamping vertical maw that covered a tooth-lined jaw with a long, spiked chin that stuck out between the teeth like a bony tongue. Its antennas weren't even traditionally insectoid, as they were long pincers like its legs with many more so they could bend and lex in any direction it wanted.

"Mi-Go!" Ramone summoned as well. "Yi-Go!" The two centipedes came bursting from Ramone's arms, sending shards of the waxy material that had long ago replaced his skin flying away. Ramone's true face was seemingly nowhere, the three demonic creatures replacing most of his real body. "Kill him! Rip him to shreds and **devour his putrid flesh!!!**" At his growling command that trio of hideous beings took control of Ramone's body and made his legs pump to drive them swiftly forward. Rupert was so taken aback in disgust and horror that he was nearly hit by the lunge of all three chattering mouths. He rolled away at the last moment and came back up ready for a lunging jump.

"You won't kill me so easily" Rupert said. "I will break apart your cursed body!!!" Rupert made a charging tackle into Ramone's back, visibly cracking the fragile, waxy skin but not breaking it. Omukade turned around and made a strike with its insanely powerful segmented body. Though he dodged it, a gash still formed on Rupert's cheek.

"Don't underestimate these three" Ramone warned. "Out of all my hellish legion, every poisonous insect and barbed-stinger bee, these three have time and time again proven their power to the masses. Mi-Go and Yi-Go are 'Steel-Skinned Centipedes' who can break through even Sea Stone walls with enough force. Omudake is a rare breed, one that has been left as an 'undocumented species'. Some of the men it has killed claimed it wasn't even a real creature, but some imaginary terror that their minds conjured to replace what was really there..."

"That doesn't make sense" Rupert said, brushing away the blood on his cheek. "That monster is as real as the cut it made...and the poison it carries is more deadly than anything else."

"Oh?" Ramone grunted, turning his body around. "You noticed that, eh?"

"It doesn't hurt" Rupert said, "this cut it gave me. It has a natural numbing toxin in its saliva that it spat onto its front pincers for longer reach. It won't feel it if it injures me, and therefore I won't know just how much damage I have sustained unless I can see it."

"You're smart" Ramone complimented, wobbling forward as his three new limbs wiggled and writhed around menacingly. "To know that poison is so dangerous at a glance...no wonder you're a scientist." Ramone continued his attack while Rupert went on defending for dear life. He let Yi-Go and Mi-Go clash with his hardened, tempered steel armor while he avoided Omudake completely. The hideous creature of black and purple continued attacking with its orange and yellow brothers regardless, slicing its front scythe-like pincers through the stone of the courtyard ground.

"You'll run out of energy eventually" Rupert said. "Just like before, you can't sustain all of those demons within you for long!" Rupert waited patiently as he dodged, keeping his fists knotted and ready to swing. Ramone was in no position to notice. The fact that he was able to keep moving towards a retreating target was an impeccable mark of his skill as a fruit user. No eyes or ears, just an echoing voice coming from the gaps in his body where the monsters came from.

_Ggggg....._ Ramone growled silently. _Unfortunately...that bastard is right...Commanding these pheromones to keep these monsters under control is difficult. I don't have the energy to wait with...Come on Omudake. You know I'm counting on you!_

'Oh, it's gruesome!' 'I can't watch!' 'They're hideous!' 'I'm going to be ill' Such were the mixed reactions to the fight so far. The villagers were disgusted by Ramone's newest and most dangerous trick, and those feelings of sickness overshadowed their feelings of pride and loyalty for their king. Gretta observed the fight and the crowds reaction to it.

_They aren't watching father at all _she observed. _No matter how you look at it, they're only watching the Demon King. Of course, not for the same reason that I am..._ Her red eyes were sparkling as she watched those three winding, evil monsters that came from within Ramone's tight, muscular body. She was also watching that body as it awkwardly moved under the influence of the beasts rather than the fighting that was going on. Each long-ranged thrust and desperate bite went by the wayside, as she was smitten by this curious demon.

Such a strange fascination took its roots one year ago, during the Ghost Killer's initial attack on what they thought was a Government island...

* * *

"Kill them!" Ramone commanded. "Kill them all!!!"

"UAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" his strong, determined, healthy crew shouted back. The town guards, all built like marines, stood firm with their metal bucklers and wooden-shaft spears as the pirates charged in with their pistols and sabers. Metal clashed and thunderous cannons roared as Ramone's flagship, _Bohemian Nightmare_, strafed around the shore with its starboard side aimed at the town. Houses exploded, the cobblestone of the street was blown high into the air, bullets flew and men died. So many men died.

That's when the Argent Fist came down from the hill with their weapons poised high overhead.

"Hold tight, men!" the year-younger Arthir ordered with his crushing hammer held in both hands. "We will banish these demonic invaders to the hell they came from forthwith!!!"

"Ggggg...." Ramone growled with a sneering smile. He tensed up his hand and started a buzzing cloud of tiny insects all around it. Once the troop of armored warriors drew close to him and his men Ramone threw his hand forward and unleashed a thick swarm of buzzing gnats on the paladins.

"Gah!" one armored warrior shouted in pain. "What be these?"

"Be these bees?" another asked.

"Nay!" another growled. "They just be gnats! Charge at them hence!!!" The Paladins started running forward, but all but Arthir fell to the ground.

"What!?" Arthir shouted.

"Those aren't normal gnats" Ramone gloated. "They're poisonous! Those soldiers of yours will be steadily dehydrated until they're completely dead!"

"Die, demon!" Arthir shouted. He ran forward, feeling the stinging weakness brought on by the gnats, and swung his mighty hammer. Ramone dodged simply and threw up his arm. His hand had transformed into a vicious, bloated hive of crawling barbed-stinger bees that were ready to fly at once.

"Gggggg...." Ramone growled with a smile. This determined attitude and fierceness is what caught Gretta's eye. She watched from her tower with an extra-long looking glass as the village was sent into a chaotic panic. She saw the grimly grinning face of that demon man as he leaped about, shooting bees from his hands through some twisted force of magic, and she reveled in his victory with a shy, hidden smile.

"What an amazing man" Gretta amorously mused. "Are all outsider men...as fascinating as he? Are they all so...terribly amazing?"

"My lady" a waiting woman pleaded, "I beg you to stop watching! You father, the king, will be quite angry if he sees that you praise a villain!"

"Shut up" Gretta commanded flatly. She saved all her limited emotions for fawning hopelessly over the powerful maniac who was rampaging through the town and heading for the hill.

"What is that?" Gretta said, noticing something down in the courtyard. A dark-green figure with rough, graying black hair was sprinting away from the castle ,kicking up a trail of dust as he went. "No...Drakengard...I hope that man can hold his own..."

Of course, as the story went, he couldn't. Now that man is fighting his truest enemy, using every force that his life can handle at once in a desperate, vindicated attempt to gain retribution for 365 days of pain...


	76. Fight like Madmen pt5

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"Behold, captain!" a defeated, breathless guard said pointing up the hill. "Our sure victory doth advance!"

"Fortune be with us!" Arthir exclaimed. "All ye of the Argent Fist, do retreat now and watch a truly powerful knight make a fool of this vicious demon!"

"???" Ramone looked confused. His enemies, who up until just now were fighting with an amazing and admirable effort, were preparing a full-scale retreat. "Ggggg....cowards."

"Captain!" one of Ramone's healthy and muscular men called from nearby behind. "Someone is coming down the hill! He's running extremely fast!"

"So?" Ramone shouted in defiance. "I can kill him just the same!"

"NOOOOO!!!!" a caring young maiden shouted. Colleen came out running and flew into Ramone's lower back. He stayed on his feet but his hips were blown forward suddenly by the weight of the metal the girl carried with her. "Captain, you've been fighting too much! You'll ware yourself down if you keep it up!"

"I haven't been fighting that long!" Ramone defended, shaking his first-mate off. Colleen landed on her butt and bounced away. "I'll be fine. Whoever this new guy is I can take his ass on no problem!" His hubris, however, was his ultimate undoing. Drakengard came roaring down the streets, literally, while spinning his bejeweled halberd from side to side with one hand. Ramone started the fight before Drakengard even got close by activating his primary trap: a trench! Drakengard took one wrong step and fell into a deep pit that caved in around him with rock and clay and salty dirt.

"Gggggg...." Ramone growled in a laugh. "That's the handiwork of my infamous **Trench Ants!** They've earned their reputation as landscape levelers with their amazing organization and ability to burrow through nearly any surface! They can even eat through Sea Stone!"

"Tis a fine trap" Drakengard growled, "but futile is futile, no matter the form. HRAGH!" Drakengard simply flexed his arms and legs and the ground around him burst open. He was out of the trap at once and prepared to continue his charge. Ramone was already prepared with Mi-Go extending and squirming out of his right shoulder.

"Bring it on" Ramone growled. Drakengard came in heavy with his weapon swinging. Ramone dodged the blows and used his long centipede arm to deliver a reach-around punch to his enemy's back. Drakengard was shaken by the blow that blasted through his thick Sea King-hide armor and stumbled forward for a few steps. "You're weak" Ramone mocked. He called Mi-Go to coil inward and form a large, spiraled shield of steely hide. Just in time. Drakengard brought his halberd down with crashing force and hit Mi-Go straight on its unscathed back. Ramone's feet were forced down and shattered the rocks he stood on. He winced.

_He's really strong_ Ramone thought. _Ggggg.....this complicates things. I'll need to give him some poison and leave him for dead. That's the only thing I can safely do to fight right now!_ Ramone used his powers to silently summon up a bug that crawled out of his ear. It's clacking maw was dripping with a hideous, bubbling orange venom and its four-fold wings unfolded like that of a butterfly. A red and purple skull pattern was on its wings. _Go, **Styx Weevil, **right into his ear!_ The bug flew on silent wings making a path in the air for Drakengard's brain. The manic fighter, however, wasn't so easily fooled. Even with his wide, terrible eyes fixed on Ramone's eyes he was able to snatch the insect from midair and crush it in his armored palm.

"Is that all you can do!?" Drakengard growled. "Sick your little pets on me!?"

"Gggggg....." Ramone growled. The intensity he felt in his body from before had dulled down. His bugs were off of alert and slipping into hibernation to regain their used energy. Their weakness was reflected in the disappointment and rage on Ramone's face. "Crew, back to the ship!" Ramone ordered.

"Are you sure, captain!?" one of his mates shouted.

"We can't leave without you!" Colleen said.

"It doesn't matter" Ramone growled at them. He finally pushed away from Drakengard, only to have his enemy set himself back up and come in with his spear held down and stabbing at Ramone's throat like he was fishing for his blood. "I can make it back whenever I win! Just get the hell away from here!"

"You're not going to-" one of his crewmen began.

"That's right" Ramone growled. He threw a long and powerful blow with Mi-Go that landed on Drakengard's shoulder and sent him tumbling away. "Now, **GET OUTTA HERE!!!**" At his bellowing command his crew began the task of enacting a full-force retreat. The Paladins had regained their footing away from the battle and were already en route via fishing boats to smash up the flagship off the coast.

"Make haste!" Arthir called. "Those knaves and demons can only be held at bay so long by Sir Drakengard!" A loud, thunderous blast rang out from up on the deck of the ship. The crew still present was defending their ship with their lives, shooting guns and throwing harpoons as hard as they could to keep those annoying knights away from their boat.

"Keep firing!" one of the deckhands shouted. "Keep throwing! We can ink their boats with a well-heaved cannonball!"

"Attack!" Arthir commanded. Suddenly a hot blast of air rocked the ocean and blasted two of the read boats away. Colleen's arm cannon was fired from her own rowboat that was now torn apart by the force and pressure the push had produced.

_I have to help_ Colleen thought in a determined voice_ with all my power! Even if my arm is burnt to a crisp, even if my bones are scorched black from the heat, this is the power I contribute to my crew! This is my own force!!!_ Just barely inland a giant black cloud started forming. A swarm of bugs came from out of Ramone's body, more bugs than one would imagine would fit in such a frame. Insects of pure, pitch black that huddled close together and blocked out the light around them.

"**Plague of Abadon!**" Ramone growled. The bugs started circling around him and swirling about his hands while Drakengard just smiled his evil, demented smile. "I'll eat you alive...**and then murder your ghost!**" With his strongest power revealed, the rest of the Ghost Killer pirates returned to their ship and successfully fended off the invading Paladins. It was a grueling battle that drained the pirates and forced most of the to collapse despite their impressive form, but it was a won fight.

"We did it!" one pirate cheered happily.

"We're awesome!" another added.

"We kick ass!" a larger pirate announced. "And let's not forget who kicks the most ass: First-Mate Colleen!"

"Oh my" Colleen said, cupping her face in her hands with shyness. "I'm not that great at all. It was a team effort, really. Captain Cervantes is the strongest out of all of us."

"Of course she'd go for her crush" one pirate said aside.

"Who's crushing on who!?" Colleen whined, trying to be aggressive.

"Hey..." one of the crewmen observing the distant fight with a telescope began with a shaking voice, "hey guys come here!"

"What's up?" a pirate asked. The alarm in the air was curious, and Colleen thought it was unnecessary as long as they were watching captain Ramone.

"It's the captain!" the observer shouted. "He-His bugs have failed!" a cold shock ran through everyone's spine. Colleen fought her fear for a moment and bashed away the observer while grabbing his telescope. She looked for herself and saw, with a dry gasp, her captain in the death-grip of the madman warrior. Ramone was unconscious and his body was flaking apart. A wide hole was open in his side where his frozen insect innards were clearly visible. Colleen witnessed the ultimate blow to her mind, the ultimate shock to the Ghost Killer name! The day of their defeat...one year ago.

* * *

Ramone snapped back to the present where his body was under the control of his three strongest inhabitants. Omukade was striking and snapping at Rupert while the mighty king dodged and swatted away the predictable Mi-Go and Yi-Go.

"You're getting tired" Rupert announced. "It's just like last time, isn't it? When my minion-"

"**UUURAAAAAAAGGHHHH!!!**" Ramone roared. The three centipede monstrosities flew out of his body and an army of buzzing beetles almost instantaneously reconstructed his arms and head. Now Ramone was whole again and scowling. He lowered his head and shuffled his feet to stay grounded. Mi-Go and Yi-Go reentered his body through holes in his back which were quickly sealed back up. Omukade circled its master and raised its clacking maw up like a snake. "Omukade...go back to the ship." The monster cackled, somewhat defiantly, and Ramone started growling. "Ggggggg......go." Omukade stopped its chatter and slithered to the side. It entered a hidden hole covered by cracked rocks and left the battlefield.

"You already made an escape tunnel" Rupert noticed. "What a cowardly tactic! You've planned your retreat but not your battle! MOHOHOHOHO!!!"

"I don't need my ability" Ramone began "to kick your ass up into your loud mouth!" Rupert stopped laughing and glared down curiously. Ramone took a pose, right arm cocked back against his side and feet spread apart with his right leg back. His left arm was straight and over his head, then he lowered it and bent the elbow until his wrist was at eye level. Then he rolled his hand out and formed a pawed palm with his fingertips folded tight into the creases where they extended from his hand. "This is the most lethal style of hand-to-hand combat I have ever learned. With one blow I've seen a man's arms fall off like a leper and I've seen someone but strike a man's little finger to break both his legs and hip bone. This is the South Blue art, **Shinkei Haretsu KEN!**"

Ramone adjusted his pose now, rotating his right arm by the shoulder to mirror its former position above his head and turning his left arm so his palm faced the ground. He shifted his feet and turned, spreading his legs out and glaring at Rupert through the corner of his eyes. Rupert wasn't amused. Apparently he had heard of this style before.

"Well now" Rupert began with a sneer, "I suppose I'll just have to be careful of getting hit by you!" Rupert took his own pose, sloppy and open, with both his fists up in a high guard in front of his face.

_He's boxing?_ Ramone thought curiously. _I can't afford to be careless, however. This man is strong enough and somehow nimble enough to out fight me right now. I'm tired. My legs are already starting to waver. I can feel the full weight of my body starting to drag me down..._

"Gggggg...." Ramone growled. "You'd better not be underestimating me, you son of a bitch. I can kill you with one hit in this style."

"Oh, I know" Rupert said. "I picked up on that. What you _should_ be concerning yourself with is how easily I will be able to defeat you now that I can use these!" Rupert threw his arms down, throwing his gloves off with them He then carried his arms behind his back, spilled on something he was carrying, and raised his fists back up again. This time he was grasping two identical sea-green slabs of stone etched to resemble curled fists.

"Those-!" Ramone exclaimed.

"**Sea Stone Flat Knuckles!**" Rupert announced. "Now your demon powers are worthless! Victory to the righteous is at hand!!!" To his loud taunt the gathered crowd cheered loudly. Ramone looked back at them and glared. Araly was glaring right back. Her hot gaze, a murderous intent that only a hardened pirate or feisty young woman could muster, stunned him for a moment. It was a moment to mark his own defeat, as Rupert was already upon him. Ramone stepped in and poked Rupert's leg armor with a light touch, then rolled between his legs just as he brought his fists down to shatter the ground. Rupert was smiling wide up until he saw that his leg armor had broken off into small pieces, exposing his bare, pale leg, and there was a blue bruise where Ramone's finger intended to go.

_I can do it_ Ramone thought. He had finally defeated the defeatist voice that controlled him for that long, arduous year. _Just a little more power, just a bit more time, and I can win! Not just for me, but for Jack and Roy and Ginny and Haggard! All my men who died from this torture brought on my this ass-bastard, I can avenge them! And not just them, but for all this hardship and unnecessary torment, I can avenge all of us! I can win!!!_ Ramone kept those thoughts with his tired eyes shooting open and turning proud and lustrous with an arrogant confidence! The old Ramone was finally back!!!

* * *

"FINALLY!!!" Bard shouted with gritting teeth. "I'm back where I wanted to be!" He had just reached the stretch of noble houses that laid just before the front gates and high wall leading into the castle courtyard. His fated battle with the corrupt king was finally at hand, provided the malicious Ramone hadn't already made a corpse of Bard's opponent.

"I'll just take a quick second" Bard told himself "to prepare myself mentally." Bard raised on leg up and curled it up to his hip, then clapped his hands together and started to breath loudly through his mouth. _I can use Geppou now, and I've basically mastered Soru in a straight line. I need to practice my Tekkai more if I want it to improve, but my Rankyakuu is where I feel like I'm really faltering. I could make it so much more powerful, I know I can, but I just can't seem to do it! Sure, I can defeat any of these weaklings and featherweights with it, but to them it's just a sharp breeze. I need it to act as a real blade that I can cut things with! Like having some kind of bladed leg armor...whatever that's called. I wonder if my punches can use a Rankyakuu-like technique. What would that be called?_

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHH!!!!" Suddenly, a tremendous roar came from over the wall. Bard looked behind him, forgetting to unfreeze from his meditation position, and fell to the ground chin first. He got himself up, rubbing his sore face, and made a short leap onto the top of the tall wall. He saw the crowd of people just below him and noticed the high vintage wooden seat next to him that a distressed young princess sat on. There was great alarm on the face of Emily as well, and a troubled look on Araly's face.

"Araly!" Bard exclaimed. His voiced was drowned away by the roaring crowd. Every man and woman stood up on their weak legs and shouted their loudest praise, for the Great King Rupert held in his hand the bloodied face and broken body of the infamous Demon! What should have been excitement for his chance to fight turned almost instantly to rage and vindication! Bard felt madder than he ever had for some reason. Even though his rival lost in the fight, Bard was furious at his opponent.

_In any tournament_ Bard told himself, trying to calm down _I wouldn't be this pissed. He lost, and I guess that was that. If these were the finals in a championship I would just tag him out and take my place center stage or allied corner, but right now...in this wide world of renegades and pirates as dangerous as him, I guess I must have considered him...**a comrade!**_

"Is this all!?" Rupert shouted, strutting about with his thoroughly defeated foe held hard in his hand. "What of the others? Am I now to punish the girl, or the Succubus consort of this terribly creature? Are there no opponents left to try and test my might!?"

"**HEY!!!**" Bard shouted. The crowd died down and turned around to see the brave young man standing on the iron spikes that lined the top of the wall. His cape billowed like black, hellish flames in the wind, and his hair sparkled with a golden shine from the salty ocean wind. "You haven't already forgotten me, have you!? **Soru!**" Bard vanished in an instant, surprising Gretta intensely, and reappeared with Ramone over his shoulder near the statue in the center of the courtyard. "I guess it's my turn now" Bard said, observing his badly injured fellow captain with proud eyes. "I'm sure you warmed him up for me, though. Alright, I'll do my best!"

Bard turned on his heel with a glare...and a grin! Rupert was still pursing his lisp in surprise over the fact that Bard had stolen a body from the pal of his thick, enormous hand...

* * *

Shinkei Haretsu Ken: Nerve Explosion Fist


	77. Fight like Madmen pt6

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The regal tournament has reached its end, as apathetically predicted by the unamused Gretta. She was considerably moved by the previous events of watching her object of affection get pummeled into a bloody heap and crumble under the weight of her father's fist. Now it was the blond-haired boy's turn to brave the startling might of Rupert Lioncrest and save the pride of pirates everywhere!

"I hope you can handle pain" Bard said smugly, "because this train delivers on time!"

"Huh?" Rupert grunted in confusion. "A train? What is that?"

"Eh?" Bard grunted back. He looked to the audience for approval but got curious nods and unsavory glares. Now he felt nervous and posed to fight and skip the witty banter.

"Pray tell, demon-man" Rupert said, "what villainous cur did sew you those robes? They look like the tattered banner of some hellish legion freshly upheaved from the most putrid regions of the underworld!"

"Hey!" Bard shouted. He made a flying Soru-powered leap and delivered a kick straight into Rupert's face. "Don't screw with the coat!!!" Rupert rolled once away, then recovered on his hands and knees while Bard continued his onslaught with a powerful kick to the larger man's jaw. Rupert felt his brain shake inside his head, then just as he began to lose his balance Bard made a rotating roundhouse kick to Rupert's neck and sent the dizzy king flying away, only to tumble and skid across the stone-cobbled ground of his courtyard. Bard stomped his feet down and glowered with an angry, toothy scowl.

"This coat" Bard began, pointing to his ironically bare chest "represents my pride, not only as a pirate, but as a fighter! A battler! A true martial-artist! This coat is my treasure, crafted from the hands of my friend and comrade with the time and passion only a wife would otherwise give! And this symbol on my back, the tangling scene of dragons, the Tapestry of War I call it, represents my warrior spirit!"

"So?" Rupert growled as he stood his old body up once more. "Can that scruffy-looking coat dampen any blunt impact to the sensation of a dull poke? Can it shield against sharp weapons or keep you airborne for more than thirty seconds straight?"

"Maybe" Bard said hopefully. "I mean...it's black. And black is cool!"

"WHAT!?" Rupert shouted. He began rushing forward with his hands up in a boxing position. He came up to Bard ready to fight and started swinging fast and furiously. "Just because of its color you think it's cool!? You little brat! You know nothing of science!" Bard stepped and leaned out and away from the punches Rupert threw. Finally the huge man, though to Bard only half-a head taller, stepped and slid his foot into Bard's, forcing him off his footing.

_Damn!_ Bard exclaimed internally. Rupert wound up a powerful right hook and nailed Bard, right in the shoulder. _GAH! Holy total hell, that hurts!!! That's definitely not a normal punch! _Bard was tossed away by the full-rotation fist and stopped rolling when he caught himself and screeched to a stop on smoking boot heels right in front of the bleachers.

"What might!" a woman awed.

"He is so graceful, our king!" a man shouted. "Look with what ease he dispatches the demons! Huzzah for our Great King Rupert!!!"

"Huzzah!" the crowd shouted. Gretta didn't join them, as she was too focused on the fight.

_He can travel with such speed _she thought, observing the panting Bard _that he cannot be seen, yet just tripping him causes him to freeze and be unguarded? Somehow I find that interesting, but it is not at all advantageous for him!_

"Father" Gretta said, standing up on her throne. "Are you just going to keep doing that the whole fight now?"

_He better not_ Bard thought to himself. _He caught me off guard. His timing went from medium to 'HOLY HELL!' in one motion. That motion just happened to be his rush. I can see it coming now, I just need to concentrate more on my timing than his._

"Come on!" Rupert called. He came in with his right arm raised up above his head, then brought it crashing straight down to the ground. The nearby spectators were sprayed with dirt and tiny bits of rick from the ground he broke. Bard was several steps away and started casually walking away.

"I think I'll take a nap now" Bard said. "Nothing interesting his going on." Rupert turned to see Bard walking away without a care in the world. He even put his hands behind his head to cushion his neck and started whistling as he went.

_I see_ Rupert thought with a grin. _He's trying to make me pursue so he can deliver a surprise attack. What a juvenile attempt. I'm a genius scientist! I effortlessly brainwashed an entire island of murderers and freaks and villains into this peaceful culture of weaklings who adore me! Don't underestimate me, boy!!!_

"TORYAAAAAH!!!!" Bard shouted. Rupert turned around with a shocked face and received Bard's amazing flying kick straight to his face. Bard wasn't done there, however. Before his spine could start buckling his back Bard drew his leg back again and started shooting a flurry of quick, water-kicking stomps straight into Rupert's wizened face. "EYEYEYEYEYEYEYEY!!!!!!"

"What terrible speed!" a woman exclaimed.

"He be ruining the face" some outraged man began "of our gorgeous, powerful leader!" Bard eventually stopped and floated back to the ground. Once there he let his knees drop down and grabbed the ground with his finger tips. He raised his body up with just his hands and made a quick rotation to trip Rupert's legs off the ground. Now Rupert was off his feet and totally without balance while Bard was extending his arms to raise the cutting-area of his legs and then he began to spin fast. He picked up speed rapidly by kicking his legs in the same direction that he spun and pushed up with his fingers to keep his momentum going.

"Huoooooaaaah!" Bard shouted throatily. "Rankyaaaaaaku...**Orbital TRIP!!!!**" From Bard's legs came an explosive wave of power. Rupert the closest to the wide ring of destruction and felt the blade of air ripping through the dense metal of his armor to blast and cut his skin. The rest of the wave traveled upwards at an angle, forming a sort of askew, off-center orbital ring. A Sea King raised its head above the water off the coast and saw a beautiful blue halo of energy right above the throne of the amazed Gretta. Her mouth was hanging open as daintily as a princess' mouth would and her red eyes sparkled.

Bard grabbed the ground hard to stop his legs from spinning, then pushed off and flipped onto his feet. His left arm was down with flexing fingers while his right was raised up to chest level with a curled fist. He hopped from foot to foot, staying on the spry balls of his feet and touched his nose with a huff. _I can barely stand right now_ Bard thought, even sounding dizzy in his mind, _but as long as that guy is damaged I can deal with it. This is a fight to the death for him, and if I can show him that I won't die before him, he'll lose heart and mentally concede. Then I can just run around him until his body craps out and declare myself the winner! It's as much a mental game as it is a physical one!_

"Mohohohoho..." Rupert chuckled. He pushed himself up by the knees and straightened his body out. His chest had a nasty, bleeding wound on it, but it didn't seem to bother him. He even scratched at it and bloodied his nails when it seemed to itch from the breeze. "Mohohohoho! So you know **that**, do you? Are you one of **them?** Did you come here for **those** after all? You..." Rupert reduced himself to mumbling incoherently and coughing out painful spin after that. Bard was shocked by his endurance and startled by his own. That attack had left his legs steaming with sweat and burning with activity, and he doubted his own ability to deliver another blow like that soon...

* * *

"Well ain't this pretty?" Rez asked. His arms were crossed, gunblades draping over his flexed triceps, and the glare from his bandana'd forehead made iron red hot. The Crimson Killers, aged assassins in Rupert's employ, had Rez cornered in the main entrance hall. Rez was within a short dash from the main gate, his ultimate goal of the outside easily in sight, and now that path was impeded by the presence of so many robed killers. Unbeknownst to those fighters, high above behind the rafters of the ceiling, a face came melding out of the stone.

"I hope he can handle all of them" Zan said, observing the odds with and apathetic disposition. He sighed and crawled onto a wooden rafter to kneel and inspect his damage. "I'm still messed up. I can't run, but I can move through the walls okay. My left leg is especially screwed up. At least I have a splint on it, the sooner I get a cast the better. My head still hurts a bit, too. I'm sure that'll clear up. Still, that fight...was bad. I've been out of it for longer than I thought. Without the element of surprise I really can't fight right. I need to stay with these guys and train if I can..." Zan's eyes shot open at that instant.

_Is that it?_ He asked the echos of his mind. _That man...Dragon...did he anticipate all this form the start? He knew all along that my hand-to-hand wasn't where it should be, so he sent me out on an exodus to train...well, he's succeeded even my own expectations on the matter. I'll have to work hard with these guys, learn Rokushiki, and go back to the Revolutionaries with my head held up high!_ Suddenly, with those ambitions in his mind and those dreams so suddenly dreamed up, Zan felt a flood of pride. That feeling when a pirate unearths an amazing treasure on the beaches of a foreign land, the feeling when a marine gets promoted for all his hard work and effort, that feeling that all mes seek when they set out for adventure; that feeling of **ROMANCE!!!**

Fifteen gunshots in perfect succession. Zan was snapped back into reality through such a loud sound. With those fifteen shots only two assassins were taken down by Rez down way below. Zan observed their movements and compared them to fish in shallow water. Obviously Rez was the lesser fish wile the red-scaled monsters with frayed tails circled around him in the attempt to devour him. They used their numbers while Rez constantly used his genius Duelist Vision to out-plan and outmaneuver his enemies.

_They'll split apart_ Rez thought, staring at the narrow space between two lunging enemies _and give me a hole. I'll cut to the right, since his speed will change less, and hopefully make contact. Then I'll at least be out of their corralling motion._ To his prediction the assassins moved apart and Rez jumped forward, making a slash to help himself spin around so he would face the group before he even stopped. Then, with his sheer grace and fluidity, he fired several shots into the necks and exposed wrists of his enemies, letting their blood flow and debilitating them without scarring his own pride by shooting their backs.

"Dammit" an assassin cursed. The rest of the battle-capable started moving swiftly again while Rez ran away using short hops and strafing leaps. He led the villains all around and became exhausted in doing so, so he tried to take cover from their weapons behind an ornate stone pillar. He reloaded his guns while he could and when the assassins flanked around his cover he pressed into it and jumped onto it, planting his feet flat on its vertical surface so he could jump away and over their line while slashing at them as he went. His plan worked, yet again, but he miscalculated his trajectory and landed on his shoulder, painfully impacting bone onto stone.

"Grr!" Rez growled with pain. He rolled back to his feet and drew out his blades to parry and deflect the incoming blows. His effortless fighting wasn't upsetting the Killers as much as he had originally planned. He continued weaving between the men, slicing their necks and retreating, until only a handful stood between Rez and the doors. "You guys are getting on my nerves!" Rez growled. He sheathed his gunblades with a stylish spin and reached up for his Hell Tiger.

_I've got one bullet in this thing_ Rez thought. _One shot for, what, six guys? Easy. Even if they don't die from the impact they won't be up to chasing me. And, if I aim this right, I can bust down the doors and get into the courtyard to help whoever's fighting._ Rez prepared to make his attack with a swinging blast of power, but as he drew his sword out he leaned his body to the side, swung in that direction and suddenly was right at the farthest flank with his enemies lined up for him to hit.

"HUUUAAAAA!!!!" Rez roared. He hammered one in the back of the neck, sending him tumbling away with a fractured chunk of armor. Two more rushed up on him. He blocked their attacks and kicked the legs out from under one of them. Then he made a powerful thrust that caught the assassin right in the chest and threw him against the huge wooden doors. The man was greatly shaken, but after assessing his body he got back on his feet and began attacking with the others.

_They don't let up!_ Rez noticed. He was protecting his body with his sword and his hands with his quick movements and motion. The assassins knew that without proper grip his huge sword would be useless and were aiming to chop off his fingers. _They aren't amateurs either. Dammit, they're getting me right where they want me, in a corner. I can't block forever!_ Rez noticed, apart from the assassins attacking him, a phantasmal figure gliding ever closer with bladed knuckles equipped. It was Zan, he knew in an instant, somehow making his way over despite the damaged leg, to speed up the battle with his own assassination prowess.

"**Phantom Surfing**" Zan lowed. He came up quick and grabbed an assassin by the throat, stabbing him in the back with his dagger. After a moment of struggle the Crimson-cloaked man fell silent and still to the ground. The others looked at him and leaped away as Zan phased down into the floor.

"No way" one of them said.

"A user?" another observed.

"Concentrate" yet another commanded. "They're still outnumbered, right Gerhart?" Gerhart, the man the commanding soldier turned to, was still. A moment later, slivers of blood came from his mouth slits and as he fell the feint sight of a glaring, shadowy man was seen disappearing literally into the woodwork.

"Eyes forward!" Rez ordered. The assassin foolishly turned to him and got a stern uppercut to his jaw, lifting him off the ground and almost straight to the ceiling with Rez's full-powered arc swing. Rez stepped forward and swung his sword down hard, scattering stone and the remaining three assassins. Zan came up from the floor again and stabbed another while Rez chopped the armor off of one and gave him a mighty powerful stab to the chest.

"Eyes back" an assassin growled. He came in at Rez with blades glaring with light, but just as he came within a desired range of his target he stopped and his eyes shot wide open. Zan was behind, his left leg fused into the stone below and his right arm extended into the back of the assassin.

"**Phantom Grip**" Zan growled. "I promised Bard not to kill anyone...but who said a little **cardiac arrest** ever did anyone in?" Zan reached from within the man's body and found the racing heart muscle. He simply touched and sent the man into a panic, forcing his heart to beat even faster and more viciously than before. Then Zan squeezed it hard and started pumping it at a haltingly slow pace. The man lost consciousness and Zan let his hand slip out while he fell to the ground. Rez was astonished and slightly scared.

"Damn" Rez said. "Remind me that you can do that next time I decide to piss you off."

"I won't have time" Zan said, flexing each finger in his hand to get the feeling back in them. "I'll be too bust killing you if you ever really do piss me off. Let's keep going."

"Can you walk?" Rez asked.

"I'm using the floor" Zan explained "as a sort of viscous surface with my powers. I'm half-in, half-out of the the actual floor right now, so I can move by effectively skating my way around with my other good leg."

"I wish I had an ability" Rez sighed, marveling at the wondrous intricacy of Zan's power. Rez took his blade and lodged it between the huge doors, prying them apart and bursting out into the open just as a section of the wall farther away from the doors came crashing apart. While Rez and Zan exited from the proper front doors, Reginald Drakengard came bursting out of the castle by destroying one of its walls.

"KURURURURURU!!!!!" Reginald cackled. "Here I am again!!!"

"Drake!" Rez shouted in surprise.

"Again" Zan began exasperatedly, "why did you nickname him so quickly?"


	78. Fight like Madmen pt7

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Rezland, Zan, Reginald, Rupert, Araly, Gretta and Bard. All the major players were here, assembled by some radical twist of ill-provoked fate into the castle courtyard. Rupert was filled with an appalled and surprised scorn to see Reginald, the age-old object of his disgrace, alive and kicking ass. Rezland and Zan were relieved to see their captain, although Rez less so. Araly was fighting off narcolepsy now that so many surprising and adventurous things were happening all at once, and Gretta was leaning out of her seat in pure enjoyment.

"This is getting good" Gretta said, resting her cheeks in her hands. "I wonder...what will the outcome of this battle be? It's gotten to the point where I honestly cannot tell what will happen anymore!" Bard looked over at his crew mates, whom he hadn't seen in what felt like too long, and then he saw the menacing smile of Drakengard as he looked at them as well.

"You two got out alright!" Reginald said. "I trust you eliminated all the other potential threats!"

"No problem" Rez said. "After all, they were waiting for about twenty years without anything to do. They were bound to be out of shape."

"Oi, oi!" Reginald shouted. "Who says old men can't fight? I'm fifty-five, I kicked both your asses!"

"You look thirty" Zan said weakly. Reginald became bashful and modest.

"Kurururu! Ah, you young people!" he exclaimed.

"Drakengard!" Rupert shouted. "What have you done...?" Reginald looked over and turned his pleasant expression into one of hatred, fully tensing his face his glowering at his twisted former assistant.

"For sixty three" Reginald began, crossing his arms, "that son of a bitch looks alright."

"**ORYAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!**" Bard shouted. He made a Soru dash into a roundhouse kick straight at Drakengard. The startled man managed to block with his arms out of reflex. Bard moved his leg from outside to inside his arm and hooked it with the back of his knee. Then he slammed his other knee into Reginald's face, unprotected and vulnerable. Once his attack was over Bard flipped off his new enemy onto the ground and hopped back into position to face his crew. "You guys! Awesome! You escaped just in time, and I saved you!" Bard put a fist to his waist and a thumb up high in the air. "Nice Teamwork!!!"

"What teamwork!?" Rez demanded.

"Captain" Zan began "you're doing that thing again."

"Eh?" Bard asked. "What thing?" Reginald got back up from the jarring attack. He looked down at the young man, measured him to be just nearly as tall as himself, then lurched forward to lock him into a full-nelson hold to prevent him from berserking any futher. Bard sensed danger, and just as Reginald extended his arms to wrap under Bard's, Bard jumped in the air and flipped to land on Reginald's back. Then, with a push, he sent Reginald down to the ground and backflipped into a light, hopping pose with his arms pumping freely.

"The stupid thing" Zan finished "that you always do." Reginald got up with a growl.

"What's with him?" he asked. "Does he still see me as an enemy? While he was already fighting against Rupert?"

"Don't worry about that guy" Rez said, grabbing his Hell Tiger by the broad, curved grip. "I can take him out in one shot."

"That I doubt" Drakengard said, pushing himself up with his arms and landing with his legs wide. "I will calm this young man down and reorient him properly. Consider the King to be the final obstacle in bringing back peace to this island!"

"We'll get him in checkmate" Zan promised "sooner than you may want." Reginald nodded, then turned around and began running and roaring at Bard.

"Come on!" he shouted. "Show me what you've got, kid!!!"

"Oh, I will" Bard lowed. As Reginald approached Bard let his body fall backwards. With his arms tensed out to the side as if he was going to grab Bard in a bear hug, Reginald had left his thick body open to attack. Bard kept his arms up to guard with his fists tightly clenched, and simply drifted back while Drakengard loomed over him. Then the ideal moment came, the perfect time for an attack.

"**RANKYAKU!**" Bard shouted. He made a straight kick to Drakengard's abdomen, a painful, stabbing kick backed with an air-slicing blade. Drakengard felt the pain but ignored it and jerked his body to the side. His left shoulder went back while his right arm was thrown forward with an open palm, smashing Bard into the ground via a powerful hit to the chest. Bard didn't use Tekkai, and felt the full force of the blow as a result. Reginald kept running for a few steps off of his inertia, then stumbled and stopped, holding his gut where a fresh, long bruise appeared. Bard rolled on his back and kicked himself up to his feet.

"That was good" Reginald said. "I had no idea they recruited kids like you! Are they desperate...or are you just that strong?"

"Who?" Bard asked. "Of course I'm strong. Are you talking about the Marines?" Bard raised his left arm up, fist knotted, and held it out to his enemy. His right arm was down, a 'Southpaw' style with a guard and a ready punch. Reginald took his stance as well, one arm straight out with a claw-gripped hand and the other drawn back and wound up tightly with a fist. He profiled his body against Bard, his chest pointing out to the side away from his opponent, and prepared to attack.

* * *

While strength met strength, the faith of the audience began to dwindle. Now that the berserk, treacherous Drakengard was fighting off Rupert's original opponent, Rez and Zan were left with distracting the power-mad king until Bard came around. So far they were doing poorly, as Rupert's armor was too tough for Rez's bullets and he was moving too much for Rez to hit him squarely with his cannon. Zan wasn't moving much at all, as his leg wasn't healed and the dirt in the ground contained too much salt for him to easily phase in or out of.

"Come on!" Rez shouted, rapid-firing all the shells he had left at Rupert's exposed skin. The king was quick to block and dodged what he could, staying mobile despite his injuries. _I can't use Hell Tiger yet_ Rez planned. _He's moving too much and staying close to the audience stands. I don't want any unwanted casualties out of this battle._ Rez made his way to the statue and circled around behind it to reload. _Last clip._ In a flash he unloaded, reloaded, and the poised his gunblades straight up near his face. He noticed Ramone, still incapacitated on the ground, making labored, growling breaths. _I'm sure you fought as best you could, pal. Wait a while before moving..._

"Here I am!" Rez shouted, coming out with his guns aiming. Rupert was already upon him, looming over him with a hand reaching for his head.

"Oh, I know!" Rupert called. Rez made a dive backwards and rolled back to his feet, holding one blade over the other with the lower one held sideways. He fired rapidly, all of the bullets sinking into Rupert's armor but not penetrating it. "Mohoho! How utterly useless! My armor can stop a menace like that blond-haired boy, what makes you think mere bullets can harm me?"

"They can't" Rez said. His clips were empty, so he sheathed the blades, stepped back to stand with his side to his enemy, and held up a hand with a finger-gun gesture aimed at Rupert. "Of course, I rarely use regular bullets anyway..." Rupert looked curiously at Rez's confident posture, then he saw his armor. It was disintegrating away, forming large holes and cracks from where the bullets had hit. The strategic placement of those bullets made the armor fall apart and continue dissolving when it hit the ground. Now Rupert's old, gray-haired roughly-cut chest was exposed. Gretta sighed and looked away.

"No one wants to see that" she growled. "Besides, how ridiculous are metal-eating bullets? Metal-eating beetles are fine, I suppose, at least coming from Mr. Demon, but how can bullets corrode metal? This is all getting very, very stupid..." Gretta looked behind her, feeling something strange in the air. From the woods came some stealthily running men dressed in assorted casual garb. All were armed with a sword and a pistol, and each had at least one sheathed and the other in hand or hands. One man, wearing a blue bandana over his head and covering his brow, made some complex military-esque motions to the others and they made a move for the gate.

"Now what?" Gretta asked. "It seems like someone wants to crash our party. How obnoxious..." Araly heard her, though she was barely clinging onto consciousness. Watching Bard move nimbly around the heavy, berserk-fighting Drakengard was exhausting in itself, and feeling the tension of Rez fighting a man a foot taller and three feet wider than he was making her nauseous. Then she saw, or didn't see, Zan. He had apparently disappeared, and strangely so had Ramone's body.

"Huah!" Zan gasped. He busted through the shrubs nearby, where Colleen was laying down, and had Ramone's bloody body draped over his shoulders. Despite his injured ankle he was able to make it so far in such a short amount of time. He dropped Ramone and then fell to his hands, right at the end of the bleachers where Araly sat.

"Zan!" Araly exclaimed. She awoke out of concern and rushed over to him. "Are you alright?"

"Not quite" Zan admitted. "In fact, I'm pretty badly hurt here. I overused my leg, and now it's starting to burn really badly."

"Hang on" Araly said. "I think I still have something for that." Araly searched through her satchel of assorted, enchanted cloth, turning her back on Zan and accidentally revealing her tattoo to him.

"Nice loyalty" Zan said. "Does this mean Bard gets one too?" Araly was confused. She didn't know what Zan was talking about, but his humorous nature was making her uneasy. Araly finally found some bandages with some positive effects and started wrapping Zan's injured parts with them. He felt cool and well, but he still had a sly smirk on his face from what he saw on Araly's back.

"Does Bard get what?" she finally asked. Bard suddenly made an especially loud shout. Araly jumped up at it and saw a smoking pile of dust where he was fighting. Tension started flowing through her, and the tattoo unknowingly worked its chemical magic on her back, soothing her and making her only feel mildly worried about Bard's fate rather than overwhelmingly concerned.

* * *

_Damn!_ Bard cursed internally. _He's strong! I kinda knew that, but somehow I forgot!_ Drakengard stomped through the dust and approached Bard, but the spry fighter Soru'd away, and the cloud of dust blew in the direction he left.

_Soru_ Drakengard thought. _I haven't seen that since the Cipher Pol escorted us to the island with the prototype...and all those prisoners. Damn Rupert for screwing this up! I'm going to break his jaw and yank out his teeth!_

"RAN-kyaku!" Bard shouted from behind. Drakengard turned on his heel and brought his arms up, getting a slight cut across both his huge forearms but blocking the rest of the attack. Bard dashed forward and punched under Drakengard's arms and hit just between his ribs. Drakengard tensed up his gut, dampening the blow, and weaved his fingers together into a single, slamming knotted fist. He raised both his arms up and then threw the balled hands down.

"Tekkai!" Bard shouted. He got hit in the shoulder but barely budged. He did, however, blink before shrugging his body and letting Drakengard's arms float down. _Damn. That hurt through my Tekkai! I guess it isn't all that strong yet._ Bard grabbed onto Drakengard's forearms, lifted himself up, brought up his bent legs, and Drakengard winced at the pain he knew was coming.

"Soru KICKING!!!" Bard shouted. He began making kicking stomps into Drakengard's chest, each hit making a dull, thudding impact on the old man's already exhausted frame.

"Gah!" Drakengard shouted in pain. He yanked an arm free and swatted Bard away. He hit against the broken edge of the wall and landed, but Drakengard rushed in with a running elbow charge and Bard was thrown back out into the open.

"Those guys" Rez said to himself "are getting out of hand." He was working his way around the battlefield with Rupert fluctuating between full retreat and a heroic charge. He retreated when Rez began drawing out his broadsword-cannon but opted to fight with his still unbroken Sea Stone knuckles when Rez wielded his duel gunblades. The pattern was exhausting and quickly drained Rupert's strength, so now the audience was fearfully watching their king shuffle his way toward the gate to make a hasty escape.

"I have yet more plans for victory!" the king announced, resurrecting just a shimmering shard of his respect. Rez saw his prey cornered and sheathed his smaller blades in favor of drawing out the huge, devastating one. He aimed it forward with one arm and smiled.

"You're finished now, you geezer!" Rez mocked. "Time to join you ancestors!" Rez raised his sword back over his head and behind his back. He would swing it down and power his already powerful cannon ball with the energy of a helm-breaking swing. However, Rupert wouldn't allow that to happen. He tore the gate out of the ground and threw the sharp, metal bars straight at Rez. Startled by the sudden move, Rez jumped away and rolled his way to safety, right at the foot of the bleachers, and got up on his knee in a crouch with his sword dug into the ground beside him. Rupert was in full flight away, running for the nearest noble house.

"There's a guy!" Marco shouted. "Buster Pirates, charge!!!" From the low-cut bushes of the fake house yards and inside the very houses came a roaring, rambunctious army of over thirty pirates. The Buster Pirate crew surrounded their huge target in a wide circle, aiming with pistols and bracing themselves with guns. Marco stood directly behind Rupert, emanating his low energy as a leader among his fellow crewmen and forcing the king to turn around. "Whoever you are, surrender or die!"

"YEEEAAAHHH!!!!!" the full army roared. The audience looked through the spikes of the wall at their king, who was found in a terrible trap, but shame didn't dare to cross their minds. The drug made them absolutely loyal to Rupert Lioncrest, in heart and soul.

'Oh, those knaves!' 'What blakhearted means!' 'They are scoundrels, they are!' 'What twist of cruel fate be this?' 'Escape, O Glorious King!' The crowd continued their soft praises, eventually catching the attention of their pure white princess. Gretta walked up to her throne with her hands gripping something invisible, something she wanted in her hands that was no there.

"Do what you must" Rupert said, proudly standing up, "but leave my people be!" The crowd cheered for their king and jeered the spirit out of the pirates.

"I feel like a villain" one pirate said.

"Well" another answered, "we technically are, but this guy's way too dangerous to let live. Give the word, Marco!"

"Where's Bard?" Marco asked to the wind. "I'm starting to get concerned a little now..." Rupert noticed just how much heart the crew had lost and took his opportunity. He made a short running jump over the pirate line and tumbled into one of the houses. Inside each house was a small armory of weapons hidden in the walls, a defense against invading pirates or worse, the Marines. Rupert knew by color and shape which house held what, and as a precaution he made sure the one closest to the castle gates held the most powerful weapon of all: Strength-enhancers. He opened up a secret compartment in the floor, took out a small kit and opened it. Seven syringes and three bottles of some vicious, light-red liquid. With an evil grin he took all seven syringes, loaded them with the liquid, and injected them into his arm.

"What's going on!?" Rez demanded.

"REEEEEEEZ!" the crew shouted. They were so happy to see a familiar face that they started crying.

"It's the first mate!" a burly man said, forcing Rez to angrily lower his head and scowl. "Where's the captain at? Surely he's finishing the fight!"

"SHUT IT!" Rez demanded, waving his sword around. He turned calmly to Marco and gave a demanding look.

"Some huge old dude" Marco said "is in that building."

"Tell me that sooner" Rez said. "Clear the way!!!" The crew gave Rez a clean path for his cannon to enter the house and hopefully blow Rupert into bits and chunks. He was weakened and sluggish from the constant battling and excitement, his old heart unable to take so much rigorous punishment. "It'll only take one shot" Rez said, preparing to fire. He stepped forward, brought his sword around to his side, then started swinging. He made another step forward, planting his feet, and fired in mid swing. The house blew apart in a huge fireball of glowing dust.

* * *

"Oh, KIIING!!!" the crowd shouted. Gretta was...unamused. Rez sheathed his sword and glanced up at her with a hot glare. He knew that something was up about her as well, her emotionless eyes fixated on him.

"**...Mmmm...Mohohohoho!!!**" That mad cackling, that booming low laughter, it came from the dust cloud. Rez turned with a shocked glare at the clearing dust. The rest of the crew backed away and hid behind their markedly strong first mate. Rupert had grown, obviously, as his shadow was nearly twice as big as before. "**Eight years I've worked on this**" he began. "**Eight years I have devoted to this, the perfect serum of strength enhancement! Now, witness the power of the Lioncrest legacy!!!**" Rupert's hair had grown out into a mane and his beard came down now to his waist. His chest expanded out two-fold its previous width with muscle. His arms had grown disgustingly large without losing their flexibility. His legs became thicker but not longer, and the metal around them was stretched from the growth. He had become a monster, mad with power!

Despite the years she had been alive with this man, even Gretta was shocked to see her father in such a horrific state. Her face finally expressed a readable emotion: fear, and the audience shared that expression with her...


	79. Fight Like Madmen Final

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"KURU!" Drakengard roared. He threw Bard the court and into the hole he himself had made to escape earlier. Bard rolled when he landed, then pushed himself up with his arms and steadied himself into his Southpaw boxing pose.

"RAAAHH!!" Bard roared back, rushing in. He punched once, but Drakengard caught it. He tried to kick but Drakengard caught the shin with his armored foot and pushed it away while bard punched with the other hand. Drakengard caught that between his forearm and bicep. Bard struggled to get free, but the dangerous man with dried blood on his brow wouldn't let him escape. "HRR! HRRRRRRGH! GRAAAH! Give me back my arms, JACKAAAASS!!!"

"Listen to me!" Drakengard demanded. Seeing Bard still struggling he gave him a headbutt, although Bard's strong head reflected most of the potential damage and Drakengard was dazed. His grips were loosened and Bard was free. He jumped up and delivered a powerful kick that sent Drakengard stumbling back. Then, with a brief running start Bard delivered a spinning, roundhouse kick to Drakengard's neck. Drakengard caught the leg before flying away and dragged Bard with him as his feet slid across the floor of the ruined hall. He managed to manipulate his weight and balance so that the energy would force him into a spin, and Bard was on the receiving end of the whirlwind toss.

"UAHAHAHAH!!!!" Bard shouted as he spun rapidly around.

"Quite being so hot-headed!!!" Drakengard roared. He let go of Bard and threw him outside, although he came dangerously close to hitting the wall. Bard planted his feet into the ground as he slid away and punched a fist to slow himself down further. His coat blew up in the breeze, but he was alright. Drakengard stomped out and tilted his neck to the side, cracking it with a slight wince. "I'm not here to fight you or any of your comrades!"

"Really?" Bard asked, coming out of his pose. "Are you sure? Because...we were fighting back there."

"You engaged me in that" Drakengard defended. "My target is the same as yours: the King!"

"It is?" Bard asked.

"That damned man" Drakengard began with a shaking fist "has been the bane of all my existence since we got here. At every turn he tried to usurp me or betray me or mess up so he could blame it all on me! When the bears overran us and ate the prisoners, he blamed me for not building a fence! When he raped one of the women and stole her child away, he blamed me for not enforcing the rules better! When he took control of the island to live out his sick, twisted fantasies, he blamed me for not being strong enough to stop him! He is a wretch! A devil of a man! A bastard king of all the bastard children living in the shadow of bastard mountain! He is a sickness, and my fists; no, OUR fists are the cure!!!"

The long, dramatic prose was too much for Bard. He had been inactive just long enough for his brain to pass out, thought he stayed standing with his arms crossed as he snored.

_Is he serious!?_ Drakengard exclaimed mentally. _More importantly...this courtyard is clear...where is Lioncrest?_

"TORYAAAAHH!!!!" Bard shouted. He regained his consciousness the moment Drakengard stopped talking and came out of his daze with a powerful flying kick. He landed it and pushed off of his foe back to the ground, where he huffed in tune to his mock boxing swings. Drakengard had no intention to continue fighting Bard, seeing just how stubbornly thick-headed he was, but was prepared to defend himself.

"Weren't you listening to me?" Drakengard asked. Bard advanced and threw a quick one-two combo, then hopped back. Drakengard took them both to the chest, then raised his own arms up and hopped in rhythm with Bard. "We're being played, don't you get it?" Bard let out a short snarl and charged forward. He threw a punch and Drakengard caught it. "We're not pawns here, but the king is playing us like them!" Bard stepped away to the side and twisted Drakengard's arm around his back, waiting until he hear a foreboding cracking of joints before applying the pressure that forced Drakengard to his knees.

"How can I trust you?" Bard asked. "You kicked my friend's asses! You're just a maniac who can barely talk right!"

"If I can't talk right" Drakengard began "then how am I talking right now?" Bard hadn't given that any thought and released Drakengard, who clutched his stretched arm and groaned and the pain.

"Okay" Bard said, crossing his arms. "I believe you."

"**SLOW!!!!**" Drakengard bellowed. He stood up and became suddenly stern. "We don't have much time. I suspect Rupert is getting desperate to hold his title and doing something foolish to eliminate all his threats at once."

"How?" Bard asked.

"There's a lot of options" Drakengard admitted. "The houses just outside the courtyard are decoys in case the prisoners riot. We figured they would go for the most expensive looking places to rob if they ever got out of our control, but the only things to steal are embedded into the walls and floors. Weapons of every caliber from over ten years ago, experimental drugs and serums for strength and stamina. Enough supplies to create a small army, all for the castle's use. I neveer would have thought they'd go to such misuse. I always thought the prisoners would get to the first, honestly." Drakengard noticed Bard drifting off into sleep again and grabbed his arm with his hand. He pressed firmly between the muscle of his forearm and the tendon meat underneath it and Bard was paralyzed.

_RADIAL NERVE!!!_ Bard metnally roared. _I forgot how PAINFUL this grip is!!!_

"You listening now?" Drakengard asked, releasing Bard from his grip.

"Damn!" Bard shouted. "That was a good one. I bet you don't know about this, though!" Bard grabbed Drakengard's neck and pinched his trapezes muscles. At first it did nothing, but then Drakengard's legs fell out from underneath him and he was on the ground in a total daze.

_He knows that!?_ Drakengard exclaimed. _The legendary West Blue paralytic grip, 'Hand of Hephaestus'! This young man is no ordinary pirate, but as long as I can keep his attention I can get him on the right side..._

"Nice one" Drakengard gurgled. Bard leaned back and laughed at his own triumphant skills.

* * *

Outside the courtyard in the open housing area where the pirates had congregated, Rupert stood above them with his grotesque, enormous body bearing over them.

"Heh" Rez huffed. "Hehe..." he nervously laughed. He began a very nervous, high-pitched cackle which the rest of his crew soon joined in. Rupert stomped forward and the laughing just increased.

"Mohoho!" Rupert growled. "You think it's amusing, do you?" Rupert's arm went up over his head, a giant pillar of muscular might, and then he brought it down with a grunt. Rez dove out of the way and the smashing force sent the rest of the pirates tumbling backwards. Rez was thrown off balance but regained it by stabbing the ground with the tip of his Hell Tiger and using it to vault himself back onto his feet with the sword on his shoulder.

"Holy hell!" Rez exclaimed. "What are we supposed to do now!?"

"Kill it!" Marco shouted.

"Shoot it!" someone else replied. All the pirates fired their flintlock guns at Rupert's face, but the behemoth just raised a hand and blocked all the bullets with his rough, calloused palm. "Um...cut it!"

"RAAAAGH!" one burly pirate roared as he rushed forward. Holding a broad-sword scimitar in his hands he made a slash into Rupert's leg. The giant didn't even notice, his manic grin plastered to his face like a terrifying mural. Now the sword was stuck in the thickness of the giant king's leg.

"How very fruitless" Rupert said. He jerked his leg back, releasing the sword, then swatted the pirate away with the back of his hand. Bloody and broken the pirate tumbled through the air and finally landed in the second story of a house a great distance away. He was out of commission entirely.

"Damn" Marco groaned. "He's even resistant to sword attacks! Rez, you got anything that could help?"

"No more cannons" Rez said "and I spent all my bullets already. Looks like we're screwed here unless we get some extra help."

"Extra help, you say!?" shouted a girl. The crew turned to see Araly standing high on the rafters. The audience had left their seats to crowd around the open gate and watch their terribly mutated king from a distance. Her scar was blowing between her arms and in an arc behind her head in the wind with her hair. Her blue attire made her blend in with the small patches of unclouded sky above her. "Why, that's what I'm here for!"

"Nice" Gretta said, leaning into her seat. "Could you say it next time without the cliché?" Araly's exporessiong turned from heroic to flat, then demonic as she turned to the blunt girl.

"SHUT UP!" Araly shouted. She turned back and took out some cards painted red. She gripped them between her fingers and then threw them at Rupert. They whizzed through the air like knives and, upon contact, exploded in a plume of fire then dissolved into puffs of black smoke. Rupert was unharmed.

"Is that all?" Rupert asked, turning his side on the pirates. "Ink? **Exploding Ink?"**

"Nope" Araly said. "Check it out." Rupert struggled to turn his head but the pirates all saw it plainly. The smoke was condensing into fire again and started hovering close to his skin. He could feel the stinging heat around his shoulder and became curious. "I wouldn't touch those, if I were you. They aren't made of ordinary fire."

"What are they?" Gretta asked.

"I'm not telling you!" Araly said loudly. Rupert sneered with his demonic grin and moved into the hovering fire balls regardless. They popped open like soap bubbles and nothing happened.

"Amazing" Gretta flatly said.

"Rez!" Araly shouted. "Kick up some sparks near that thing! Those contained explosive gases!"

"Sparks, eh?" Rez said. He fearlessly took his sword to the stone-cobble ground and ran with it, kicking up shards of rock and flickering sparks. Rupert turned to him, ready to swat him away, but Rez didn't get too close. He slashed his sword up, kicking up a small cloud of electric sparks, then flipped away. The sparks hit the invisible gas and a low hum sounded just before a deafening explosion engulfed the torso and face of the mighty, muscular king. "Yes!"

"It worked" Araly said in disbelief. "...Huh."

"You did that on a guess?" Gretta asked. "Honestly, are even the women pirates total morons?"

"SHUT IT!" Araly demanded. "Why aren't you trying to stop me, anyway? Isn't that your father?"

"I don't care" Gretta admitted. Araly looked confused while Gretta lacked any and all emotion as she watched her father's body stumbled out of the smoke and grab the ground. The pirates surrounded him but kept a safe distance. Rez was the closest and held his broadsword in both hands, dragging its tip on the ground beside him. "He's not that much of a father anyway. He doesn't care about me, he keeps secrets from me, he never seems to trust me...he's a terrible father for me. I doubt he's even my real father..."

"Don't say stuff like that" Araly said. "Evil or not, pirate or Marine, that man down there is your father! Show him the respect to at least curse my comrades out a little?"

"I don't care" Gretta said.

"You have a bow, don't you?" Araly asked, becoming more fierce. "Why don't you use that? He's your family, so why won't you defend him!?"

"I don't care" Gretta said. She stood straight up and jumped down beside Araly, staring past her as if to show some sign of disobedience that she wouldn't engage Araly as an equal. "If he can't take care of himself, especially like this, why should I want him to live? He's just pathetic, a nobody. Why are you on his side?"

"I'm not" Araly said, lowering her eyes. Her fists were shaking with rage as the ground shook from Rupert's movement. "I'm taking the side of what's most important to me...family!" Rupert got up and shook his head. His skin was charred from the fire but he didn't seem to feel it at all. If anything he seemed to be awake from the pain and was now commencing a new attack. He drew his arms far back and started punching as quickly as his huge body could, breaking the ground and throwing the pirates every which way with the force of his swings. Rez dodged the first several blows and blocked on of them, feeling his steel blade hit what seemed like steel knuckles. He was pushed back and skidded on his feet to a stop. Rupert came down with a stomp, blocking the sun from Rez's vision. In a panic Rez jumped and rolled away, then once behind him, he threw himself up with his sword and made a shallow cut on the small of Rupert's back.

"Even if you say all that" Gretta said "I still can't be confident in him anymore. He's lost my respect as his daughter...and as a person."

"Scum" Araly lowed. Gretta turned, her brows just barely showing signs of anger, and then turned forcefully away as Araly slapped her off her feet. The tattoo's effects just couldn't work over her naturally offsetting anger. Gretta stopped before cascading down the flights of bleachers and froze up. Her face was hurt and she couldn't, for the life of her, realize why. The girl delicate as a white rose, who had never been hurt in her life, had been humbled by a mere clothier girl...

* * *

"**MOHOHOHOHO!!!!**" Rupert roared. "What's wrong, outlanders!? Am I too much for you!? WELL? **AM I!?!?!?**"

"So how does this work?" Drakengard asked. He and Bard stood far away from the gate, aiming themselves to dash into the crowd.

"Just sprint as fast as you can" Bard said "and keep your arm flat out, wrist up."

"How?" Drakengard asked. "Like this?" He extended his arm out straight from his shoulder with the palm facing up.

"Yup" Bard said. "When I give the word you get ready to throw."

"Who?" Drakengard asked. "You?"

"The extra push" Bard explained "will power up my flying kick attack and rattle the crap out of his brains! It's the perfect plan!"

"For some reason" Drakengard said "I can't believe you saying that."

"What?" Bard said. "you don't think it's gonna work?"

"Not that, exactly" Drakengard nervously said. "Anyway, let's get this over with. The sooner that bastard gets thrown out to the Sea Kings the better!"

"Agreed!" Bard said. "**Let's GO!**" Bard and Drakengard began sprinting from the far side of the courtyard to initiate their plan off attack on Rupert who stirred beyond the gate. They passed a tree that turned over on itself as a tattooed, muscular woman pushed herself up and rubbed her shaved head in pain.

"What the hell happened?" she said in a gruff but womanly voice. "When did trees get tough enough to kick _my_ ass? Wait...where am I?" The reawakened persona of the pirate stirred with repressed memories. The lines she waited in, the foul things she drank, the fake personality that was forced on her, the battles that led here here; all her life flashed before her eyes until a name came up and the woman began loudly growling. "Those sons of bitches. How dare they? HOW DARE THEY!? I'll teach these punk-ass weaklings to mess with **Sally 'Steel Rope' Morganna!!!**" She looked around and found her namesake weapon, the tightly wound iron ropes, and went over to retrieve them.

Elsewhere, from the ruined walls of the castle, a figure in shock-white nurse garb stumbled and limped out into the open with a syringe and scalpel in her fist. "Bastards" Kevorkia cursed. "I'll kill them. I'll kill each and every goddamn one of them!!!"

"Now tell me again" Drakengard said as he neared his target, "what is this attack called?"

"Dragon Buster Launch!" Bard said. "And you have to say it super-fierce, okay? You can't just whisper it and get away with it. I'll make you do it over."

"That wouldn't work at all!" Drakengard exclaimed. Bard stopped and jumped up into the air. "Whatever. Here we go, I suppose!" Drakengard wound up what seemed like a powerful, stone-breaking punch with his right arm while Bard spun and flipped through the air to get the perfect position. Bard finally landed on Drakengard's fist and the incantation began.

"**Dragon Buster...LAAAAAUNCH!!!!!"** Drakengard punched hard and Bard jumped off at the final extension of the punch, launching himself with amazing speed towards the giant, rampaging Rupert.

_I hope I hit him_ Bard said. _Even with Geppou, the impact on the air would probably break or fracture my feet!_ Despite that danger, Bard straightened himself out like the grand arrow that he was, launched from the iron bow of a siege-weapon ballista that was Drakengard's arm.

"**RANKYAAAAAKU!**" Bard roared. Rupert turned a moment too late and received the flat of Bard's boot to his shoulder. An explosion of air-cutting energy spiraled out in a twisting spear. **"Imperia LANCIAAAAAA!!!!!**" Rupert's grin was twisted into a demonic snarl as his body began floating and then flying far away. A trail of blood followed as he crashed through a myriad of trees, carving a long, wide path of deforested land leading right up to a solid rock face where a cave was carved. Bard floated back down to the ground, tapped both feet to the ground, then posed with one up and horizontally lain and his arms forming a sort of frame around his face. One arm was extended out and then in at the elbow and the other arm was extended up with the elbow on the horizontal hand. A heroic pose!

"Took you long enough" Rez said, tapping his sword on his shoulder. "Couldn't you be a bit more flashy about that?"

"WHAT!?" Bard shouted. "That wasn't good enough!?"


	80. Birth of the Kingdom pt1

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

On a remote island, famed for its untouched landscape and its giant wildlife, four Marine battleships approached via the specially calibrated Log Poses on board. The entire island shined with a vibrant aura of life. Bright greens and deep, luscious blues covered the landscape as the amazing colors of the vegetation created the namesake of the stylishly huge island. Ookumaiwa, Great Bear Rock, a giant furry bear's head which stuck up from the waves of the cool sea as if to watch the sky in envy. A huge land devoid of life, save for the various species of bear that lived there. On these four ships a myriad of men traveled, only two of whom bore any significant importance to the future of this particular place.

"Sir" a Pol agent said in his black suit with his face covered by the brim of his hat, "we will arrive shortly. Perhaps you should brace yourself, as we will be docking in the shallows and may come to a sudden stop."

"KURURURU!!!!" the hearty, muscular man in the lab coat laughed, standing on the bowsprit of the huge boat. "What's with you, man? You sound like a recorded message!" Reginald Drakengard, famed researcher of all things living, an omni-biologist, was the first to embark upon this exciting new land in the name of the Marines, but more specifically his superior, Vegapunk. His face had a stern, chiseled look and his beard of lustrous black was cut perfectly to form a point so sharp it could easily pierce through wood. Twenty years ago he set forth on his expedition, a joint project between himself and his employers.

On the ship behind him sat, in a solitary and confining room, another man who worked in greatly repressed frustration over the a stack of papers. This was Rupert Lioncrest, a royal associate of the scientific branch of the Government. His family was in charge of the port from the North Blue which led into the Grand line via the Marinford Headquarters. Not as influential as the people who would regularly pass through, but a name good enough to join in what was deemed one of the single most important missions in research and development for the century.

"Sir" a Pol agent said, this one waring a calming smile and waves of curly blond hair, "we will be arriving quite soon. Would you like any last-minute refreshments?"

"No" Rupert groaned. "ARGH! I can't work like this! It's far too cramped! I need a wider room next time! And besides that, these reports are too boring for me to just sit and do! I'm falling asleep just looking at them! Why can't more exciting things happen in the world, like when they did hundreds of years ago?"

"In any case" the Pol agent repeated "we're arriving soon. Brace for impact." The agent closed the door and jumped across the expanse of blue sea to the other ship. The line of battleships carried not only the official personnel of Rupert's expedition, but each housed nearly a hundred prisoners taken form Government posts and bounty offices from around the Grand Line. The ones that stayed under heavy guard on the fourth boat were all from Impel Down itself, villains of the most extreme caliber, who stayed in tight, thick chains constantly for the sake of the other ships. Several Pol agents stayed on each ship at a time to prevent any unwanted prisoner revolts. Only two of these agents were secretly drafted in from Cipher Pol 9, and only Reginald was permitted to know which ones.

Those particular agents were now fighting at the ship's aft, the stern and sinister one hitting the other in the head with a slipper. "Fool!" he shouted. "What if someone saw you? Just because we have Soru and Geppou here doesn't mean you get to use them at will!"

"Sorry" the man with the high voice and woman's hair apologized. "I keep forgetting that. Besides, no one is really watching us, right?"

"Prepare to dock!" a deckhand announced through the system. The ships all drifted into the nearest bay, the point where the mouth of the bear seemed to open up and the tongue rolled out into a long stretch of ground floating on the ocean surface. 'The Bear Trap' they called it. The first ship stopped short of the formation and the other ships weighed anchor nearby and formed a short line around the green coast of the island. A group of bears, one with a scar over its right eye, shuffled out from the woods and formed a large semi-circle around the Bear Trap's tongue.

"Tell the men" Reginald instructed to a random Marine "to hold their fire. I'll go down there and take care of this myself."

"Yes sir" the Marine said. Reginald marched down the stairs of the deck and discarded his white coat in favor of his black skin-tight shirt underneath. On it were the words 'FIGHT ON' printed in bold yellow bordered with green. His pants were patterned with a snake-like scale of green and blue-green while his boots were standard black.

"You there!" Reginald shouted to a passing, hugely strong looking Marine. "Go to my quarters and bring me the large, metal chest, will you?"

"Yes sir" The Marine replied. Rupert got up long enough to bother looking over the edge of his own ship to see the commotion that caused them to stop. Even in his younger years Rupert looked foul. His face was twisted with marks of aged frowning and his brow was prematurely wrinkled. He was an angry old man at the age of only thirty.

"What now?" Rupert asked as he looked.

* * *

The Bears stood firm. The largest bear, the leader with the scar over its eye, seemed to be issuing a challenge directly to the behemoth that blocked its view of the sea. For ages these bears had gone undisturbed and were free to evolve into giants. A single one of these monsters could feed well over twenty average soldiers, or the one hungry combatant who led them all. Reginald repelled down the side of his ship and jumped down onto the grassy extension of mangrove-root growth. It was buoyant, supporting him even with a large metal box strapped to his back. He tightened the straps around each shoulder and moved inland.

"Be careful sir!" a Marine shouted.

"Call for backup anytime!" another called. The stoic Pol agent pulled the Marines back one by one away from the railing.

"Don't disturb that man" he said. "He knows what he's doing better than any of you do!" The wavy-haired agent tittered into his wrist a ways off. Reginald finally reached the threshold of the island as marked by the dirt-growth vines and flowers, and he let his box hit the floor. The bear chief was not amused and began walking forward on its hind legs. Although Reginald was tall this creature was comparatively a monster. Where Drakengard reached the height of just above seven feet, the bear was over ten feet tall standing. It crossed its arms and growled.

"I can see your a busy bear" Reginald said, unlatching his box and rustling through it. "I understand. I myself am a very busy man. So, let's be as gentlemen and come to an understanding. Step aside...**and we won't eat you tonight!**" Even a bear can tell when a man makes a death threat. The chief bear's eyes became bloodshot with rage and the monster growled a long, earth-shaking growl.

"_**GAAARUUUUUUUUHHHH!!!!!**_"

"Is that the best you can do?" Reginald asked as he slammed the case shut. He had equipped himself with simple fingered gauntlets made from the hide of a sea king, scales so big only three were needed to cover his huge arms and clusters of smaller scales layered on top of the knuckles. He also had greaves made from the same hide, only these had tiny toothy claws that stuck out as toes. He had shoulder pads with three short, upward-curving spikes sticking out and a waist-mantle that held two scale-mail pads at his sides and one long stretch of Sea King scale as a loin cloth. Then there was his helmet, crafted from the remnants of a Sea King's skull to resemble the very monster that was slain to create this armor.

"A great friend of mine" Reginald began "made this armor for me when I joined the Marines. Not that you would know who they are, of course." The bear was done talking. In fact, it never wanted to start. It made a huge, desperate swipe down with its paw and tried to drive Reginald into the ground. In his youth, the man named Drakengard was as nimble and agile as the very agents who chose to accompany him, and he had dodged the attack all the way up in the air to the monster's jaw. "Take THIS!" he shouted, delivering a fierce uppercut to the monster's jaw. It's head reeled back and as it came back down Reginald rested the sold of his boot on the creature's nose and then pushed, bruising the delicate nostrils of the bear and forcing it on its back painfully. He then hopped onto its gut, gripped its stretchy flesh and pulled at its chest.

"Had enough?" he asked. The bear wasn't amused with his theatrics and tried to swat him away from his chest. Reginald dodged and laded back where he was. Then the bear tried to roll over but Reginald just ran on its side, digging his boot claws in as he went. "Ready to give up yet?" The bear was in pain, but the unison of its tribe gave it the extra push of strength to get up and swat Reginald away. The man jumped away and landed on his feet, hopping from foot to foot with his fists up, ready to fight. The bear considered its actions carefully and planned its next move.

"Just shoot it!" Rupert demanded of the agents on his boat. "It's a bear! If we don't shoot it it will maul him and then we'll have to leave to bury his body!"

"Reginald" an agent said "gave us explicit instructions to not interfere with the wildlife of this place. It is a research experiment to see the effects of isolated evolution on the Grand Line. If we interfere with his methods the entire expedition will become pointless and we really will have to return."

"And all that paperwork" Rupert groaned "will have to go through me..." After a brief moment of serious thinking, Rupert turned to the battle and shouted out his cheers. "Get him, Reginald! Smack that bear right between the eyes! For science!!!" Reginald was having fun in his battle. The bear made jabs with its claws that pierced the ground while the nimble scientist dodged each hit. When the opportunity arose Reginald would deliver a straight kick with his clawed toes into the bear's paw. The bear roared in pain and made desperate, wild swipes as Reginald retreated close to the shore. Finally the bear had had enough and made a leaping dive for its prey. Reginald jumped up and avoided a crushing swing with one arm but was caught in a dire bear-hug with the other. He struggled to free himself from the bear's grip before it hit the ground but with little avail. The Marines held their breath on the ships and waited anxiously for the results of the battle to finally culminate.

"**ORYAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!**" Reginald shouted. He flexed his arms out and broke the bear's hold, then landed on his back just as the bear's huge chest came at him and he rolled away into the sea. The bear crushed the ground and cracked it down to the dirt, then got up and brushed off its fur. Reginald resurfaced from the sea, panting and smiling at his foe, while the bear itself was panting from its own efforts. The chieftain bear rose up its right arm and swung it to the side, then went down on its front paws and began to leave slowly. The rest of the bears went off into the woods with it. Reginald smiled at his apparent victory. Weather it was out of sheer honor or out of pity, the bear had given him the permission and leeway to stay on its land. Reginald turned to his ship with a grin and gave a positive thumb up.

* * *

Camp was promptly set up by the prisoners under heavy surveillance. Cheaper slave labor there was not. The criminals mainly used were minor law breakers who had been detained due to general civil disobedience, not murder and pirating like the others, and they were guaranteed a shortened sentence if they cooperated. The prisoners from Impel Down stayed on the ships and were fed minimal rations of food and liquids, all of which were laden with the mind-altering drug that sedated and calmed them, turning them from lions to sheep.

The camp the team set up started off at the bay, but the heavy and aggressive bear traffic from the woods forced the Marines to relocated all the way up the thickly-grown plateau. They rested ironically in the very mouth of the bear, most of which was thickly-formed rocks and blocks of naturally strong limestone caverns. Their base was set, the ships were moved and the experiment went swiftly underway. And all this took only the spring season of the fall isle.

Then the leaves died. From off the coast the island resembled a true, brown-furred bear. The leaves never fell but turned almost scalding shades of autumn and even the grass became a rusted brown color. The steel-blue stone and minerals of the mouth cave made for excellent reinforcements against the wilderness. Reginald's documentations of the vegetation received heavy annotations as the seasons first changed.

As the docile, lovely green of the island fell into the deathly colors of fall so too did the animosity of the wildlife. Moss and vines constantly threatened the safety and sanctuary of the base, coming in waves of pollen and pods to consume the latent nutrients of the Marine building materials. Frequent visits from the chieftain of the 'Warrior Bears' were held and tributes were constantly made. Rupert mocked the practice of negotiating with animals but Reginald obviously saw the importance of maintaining the dominance of the native species.

Eventually winter came. At this point the leaves vanished and the island resembled the rotted head of a bear instead of even the brown one before. It was now a black-bear island. The bears, as any bear would, went into hibernation for the short duration after their long fall and the constant tributes became more purposeful for the Marines accompanying Reginald. The foliage had all but died and left a sick blackness all throughout the island. The marsh waters increased and the bay was consumed by the salty waves of water. The ships had to be resupplied and sent away for the fear of them smashing into the island and being destroyed.

With just enough supplies to last until the spring and summer season came again, Reginald led the consumption to the bare minimal amounts only. The drugs were passed out and constantly produced on a daily basis, but the Marines and researchers noticed that the effects weren't lasting long enough. The subjects were building a tolerance to the drug and some of the stronger inmates were becoming aware that they were being used. One inmate in particular had shown particularly stoic signs since the beginning. A slender woman with a stone-cold gaze and a head of tulip-pink hair. Her record stated that she was a captured member of the Kuja Pirates, a girl who was injured and left behind on one of their nefarious raids during the end of Roger's age. In truth she hadn't taken the drug since day one, eating the scraps and scrubs of food from the forest whenever she could.

Everything was going swimmingly well. Spring came around again and Reginald marked the celebration of the first anniversary of the expedition by holding a huge feast for his crew. He waited at the dock on the scheduled day with a banner of welcome over his head, a beacon for the next throng of eager volunteer Marines who would take a break from the fighting and life-threatening duties against pirates to join in his peaceful research. However, despite days of waiting, no one came. That was the day that Reginald wept in anger, the day he knew he was abandoned by his own conglomerated family, and the beginning of his major exile. The events that followed shook the foundation of the island and the Marines themselves as Rupert took on signs of a totally new madness...


	81. Birth of the Kingdom pt2

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Two years after the expedition started, a year since their abandonment. Reginald took a short walk in his torn lab coat and armor to challenge the bears to their ritual boxing. If he did not occasionally win a match the bears would continue coming at them with increasing hostility. In fighting their strongest males Reginald could regain their trust in the alliance he had built with them.

The prisoners were recently being forcefully subjected to a new string of the drug which made them restless, perfect candidates for hard and heavy labor even in their progressing age. Only one subject was spared from the trials, the Amazonian girl with soft pink hair whom Rupert had taken a professional attraction to. She was in his roughly built shack of a cabin, one right next to Reginald's laboratory, nearly everyday reminiscing on her mysterious homeland of Amazon Lily.

"I told you" she said angrily "I refuse to tell you anything! Why you continue to interview me is beyond logic!" This feisty, fiery tempered girl with the neck-length hair ending in curls, was Rose. Even in her grimy inmate shirt lined with black and white bars she had the enticing figure of a woman born on the island of all earthly-male's dreams. Rupert, with his white sideburns forming a mane of hair around his scowl-scarred face, looked at her with a neutral patience while tapping his pencil between his fingers.

"I know you will tell me eventually" Rupert said. "If you don't I'll send you out there, among the men, and let come what may."

"I am pure" she defended. "Even that hell known as 'Impel Down' could not ruin me. I fought off every man that made their intentions known to me and killed several. Whatever may come will certainly not be what you must assume. I am a warrior of the ultimate race!"

"What race?" Rupert asked. "The both of us are human, albeit we were born from very different places."

"I am a woman!" she said. "I am above your level of humanity...man!" Rupert silenced a building laugh with his hand over his mouth and turned in his seat. He wrote that _Amazonian women have a displeasing temper about men. They regard women as higher than men in mainly every regard._

"Tell me" Rupert began, "about your cultures mating ritual." Rose got up and tried to attack Rupert for his bluntness in tone to the question. Rupert threw out a leg and tripped her. She fell face-forward, seeing Rupert begin to stand up through her lashes, and grabbed the floor with her hands. She rose up on her arms and choked Rupert with her shins. Then she pushed up and sat with Rupert's face between her knees, placing her fists on her hips.

"You are vulgar!" Rose growled. "I should kill you for saying such a thing to a warrior like me!" Rose raised up a fist to punch Rupert's head but something bit her from behind. Rupert had taken a device out from his concealed pockets on his regal lab coat and placed it in the thick of her lateral muscles. Her body became dangerously numb and she fell to the ground twitching.

"Do not underestimate me" Rupert lowed. He tossed the device, a syringe filled with a sedative serum, in his hand and stepped down to stare Rose in her angry eyes. "We men have time and time again conquered the world and all of its dangers. What a single woman like you could do to offset such a thing is none of my concern, because unless you simply haven't noticed, you are a prisoner in a system of holding designed by and occupied in majority by men. Most affluent pirates are men. Most of the more affluent Marines are men. I can't name any women with a high place in the World Government to save my life!"

"I don't care" she tiredly slurred "about the world. On this island, I am the strongest...because...I'm the only true..." She passed out. The sedative worked to well and her heart slowed dangerously down. Rupert stood up and walked over to the private two-way Den Den Mushi decorated with his family crest painstakingly etched by the more artistic prisoners, and picked it up.

"Kurateka" he called. "The stuff you gave me didn't work. She's totally out of it."

"Are you sure?" the young, supple voice of Kurateka Kevorkia replied. "Did you try kicking her a little?"

"She's out" Rupert said, bottom line. "Come get her and make sure she doesn't die. I'm very close to cracking her, I know it."

"Haven't you gotten any secrets out of her yet!?" Kura demanded. "If Reginald finds out you're withholding information or keeping one of the prime subjects from regular testing for your own, stupid purposes you'll be in for a lot of hurt!" Rupert looked down at the fantastically beautiful girl and sighed.

"I can deal with Drakengard" Rupert said. "He saves all his fight for the bears and blows a lot of hot air our way when he can. Nothing to worry about." He hung up the Mushi and sat back at his desk. It was elevated high enough that he didn't have to slouch to write but he slouched down anyway. It was more from his own mental exhaustion from working with her for so long rather than his usual arrogant anxiety. _She was going to say warrior...wasn't she?_ Rupert thought. He decided to record his thoughts, that Amazonians all consider themselves pure warriors, which perpetuates their gender-bias opinions.

* * *

Walking back over the hill with a chest full of fresh, shallow cuts was Reginald. The sun was setting in the sky, right over the skull of the bear, as usual, and the grass shifted beneath his sweat-soaked bare feet. In his fight he had nearly lost an eye along with most of his armor, but thankfully his perfectly sharp beard was fully intact. He dragged behind him a bounty of fish and fresh forest fruit, a gift from the bear tribe for his persistence in combat. The men would surely be happy to see it, although in his current state he knew they'd be terrified of him first.

"I'm getting stronger" Reginald said, thinking aloud. "It used to take three bears to take me down completely. This year they needed five. They've been training as well. My presence is contributing to their increasing combative nature, and their instinctive honor system is what steers them away from raiding my camp. They are fantastic, amazing creatures!" With his thoughts expertly spoken he marched his way through the tall, thick wooden gates and carried his bounty into the storage for sorting.

"Sir!" a Marine announced, making his frightened way over to the man. "Um...unfortunately, our previous attempts at reaching the nearest Marine outpost have been unsuccessful. Our transmissions were, however, jammed by some unknown means."

"Is that so?" Reginald growled. The Marine, well over a foot shorter than the terribly large, strong man, shook in terror over what he anticipated to by a scathing, chiding response. Instead, Reginald took in a deep breath, braced his back with his hands and parted his feet to shoulder length. "**KURURURURURU!!!!!**" he laughed. "Someone's sure to notice this place eventually, wouldn't you say? I say it's a good sign that our transmissions got blocked! At least this way, if worse comes to worse, we'll get in some good fighting practice against some really active pirates, or better yet, some Revolutionaries!" The Marine sighed and saluted as he went away. Reginald made a straight, stomping march for the infirmary so his wounds could be treated, ignoring the unusual bustle around him.

The drugged inmates were becoming markedly more hostile in their duties but seemed intent on finishing their given individual tasks. Reginald observed an increased distance with which the inmates walked, as if their human instincts had been marred by the drug and fought off the usual want for company and camaraderie. Not that prisoners considered one another comrades, but the human condition was a faithful thing to a scientist like Reginald. Rather than stop and let himself continue bleeding he simply noted the oddness in his head and burst open the doors to the room finaley built from sterile blocks of limestone.

"Knock, why won't you!?" the younger Kurateka Kevorkia exclaimed. Her figure was just as good as it is in the present, but her appearance was slightly different. Instead of strange goggles over her eyes she let one eye exposed form her tight bandages. She still wore those, though, and her brilliant red hair curled endlessly in wavy patterns down to her neck. Upon seeing Reginald in his terrible shape she gasped and nearly dropped the clipboard she held. "Sir Reginald! Good lord, what have you done to yourself!?"

"Nothing" Reginald said flatly as he made his way over to a bed. He laid himself down, elevated his legs and even inserted his own IV before any of the nurses could get close enough to help. "Those bears have gotten stronger! Now that beings from the outside world have set up in their home they feel the need to keep up a competition with their alpha male, me."

"Since when were you a male?" Kura asked. She took out a stretch of gauze and began carefully and precisely wrapping. "I can't believe you, Reginald. Between you and the subjects I can't decide who needs more of my general care..."

"Ah, calm yourself" Reginald said with a grin. "Hmm. Now that I think of it, you're eighteen now, aren't you?" She purposely yanked one of his bandages and leaned down on the wound closest to his gut. "NGAH! No, I didn't mean anything by it!"

"Oh didn't you?" she asked skeptically. She loosened up her band at once, thankful inside that this man could withstand that kind of pain without complaint.

"It's somewhat amazing, isn't it?" Reginald asked. Kura turned to him and blinked her blue eye. "It's been two years since we found ourselves like this, forgotten and abandoned by the world. In those two years I haven't even compiled enough data to make for a good book. This island is so mysterious, so delicate and fragile in its ecosystem that it just gets harder and harder for me to keep up with all the changes taking place."

"Really?" she asked. "I thought things were going well up til now. You've gathered enough specimens to start a small farm we can keep year long, those bears have provided you with more research notes than Rupert can keep up with...and on top of that the Marines here have benefited from being away for so long in that they've become much stronger than normal. I'd say this experiment has had the most beneficial effects of any project recently performed in our history, sir! You've been able to prove that good nature can benefit the body indirectly!"

"That pause" Reginald said. Kura looked up from her handiwork and saw him rise, disregarding the pain form pressing into his toned and injured abs. "Right after you said his name you paused...why is that, Kura?" She became visibly tense all of a sudden. She clutched a piece of gauze tightly in her hand, and then resorted to the only defensive measure she knew. She popped the first two buttons of her top and skipped away, holding her chest delicately with her hands and blushing through her bandages.

"Oh, Sir!" she exclaimed. "Why, I may be eighteen, but that doesn't make your behavior appropriate! Oh my!" With her extreme girly inflection she fled into the surgical wing and slammed the door behind her. Reginald sighed and laid back.

"What could he be doing..." Reginald thought aloud.

* * *

The months continued to pass. The same old came and went. Reginald observed the bears in their more docile state and wrote article upon article about the duality of their nature in a non-conflictual setting. The chieftain bear even began taking a liking with Reginald, rather than the sporting hunter-prey relationship they developed initially. Reginald spent more and more time compiling data about the bears, season after season, all the while passing his notes and gathered information to his Marines. Without the Government tracking their motions, the Marines lived an easy, slaking life. Some got fat, others got strong, but most of them became wise.

In the absence of a totally controlling system of justice the willpower of personality was shining through. Most of the men had already abandoned their titles as Seamen, Cabin boys, Infantry and whatever else in favor of survivors. They worked at the base belonging to the Marines not out of commitment but out of the honest jot of work. Some of the Marines had even made friends with the prisoners, finding them to be more interesting men in their drug-induced docile state than they initially seemed to be. Because the drug only worked on one part of the brain, the aggression and conflict control, each man who took it remained exactly the same as he ever was but sober of rage.

Friendships were made from summer to winter, but in the darkest of seasons is when tragedy was most likely to strike. Despite the technology they had with them, dated by twenty years today, deaths were common among the working prisoners. What made them angry and mindful of their imprisonment in a system of synthetic liquids and serums wasn't the fact that some died, but that fewer Marines would die because of their better nutrition and ability to stop working long enough to stargaze. They were inmates for life, working themselves to death.

Many of the Marines and former Marines spoke against such activity and demanded a fair review of each suspected villain before the merciless slave-driving was implemented. Among the still ruling parties of the island a majority was reached that the prisoners would remain prisoners and they would continue to be subjects in the mind-manipulation experiment. Reginald was not within that majority, however.

The third year of exile, spring rolled back around in its usual way. The bears came out and greeted Reginald at the bay as he waited for a full day overlooking the sea. Rupert was set to be in charge of the base in Reginald's absence and began his usual misdeeds once more, taking Rose into his private room and binding her arms together so she couldn't attack. To keep her from standing out as a healthy specimen Rupert demanded to keep her hair cut and her belly hidden, for she was in the peak physical condition of every inmate on the island. Her hostility towards him had drained over time and now she was unconcerned with him. She just stared blankly to the side, focusing on the wall.

"Are you going to tell me" Rupert began "the law system of Amazon Lily?"

"No" she answered plainly. Rupert smile and looked down at his sheet. He had already gotten that information and so much more out of her. The only things lacking were her personal history and an explanation of mating rituals. Rupert moved down from that list with his hands balled together.

"Tell me more" Rupert sincerely began "about yourself."

"I was a warrior" she said flatly "a long time ago. Only the strongest warriors of my island can accompany the Empress out into the world as pirates. I had won many tournaments, many fights in front of her. I was one of the best with a sword or bow. Then on one of our attacks in the sea you call the Grand Line our ships were assaulted. Our Empress forced us to flee, but many of us were lost in that attack. Hideous specters struck at us from a ship of all the world's colors. The 'Rainbow Rockers' they called themselves. Their strongest warrior, a man dressed like a rainbow monster, took me down with but a single attack and I was left for dead on the island where we fought. I was left for dead by my sisters...by my Empress...because what I did wasn't enough... I wasn't strong enough......"

Rupert sighed with a grin and saw it. The moment he had been waiting for out of her for so long had finally come. The nearly invincible Amazon Lily pirate, a former member of the terrible Kuja Pirates, had died inside. Her will was shattered and her guard was down. She was vulnerable to anything, including Rupert. With his beard fully grown around his chin exactly like a white-haired lion and a terrible face to match, Rupert got up and approached her.

"So you're no longer a warrior, are you?" Rupert said, untying her restraints. "You're just a woman. Yes...." He let the ropes drop to the floor, followed by her clothes. **"Just a woman...**" So the evil of Rupert was released that day. The years of latent hostility and frustration at being the heel under Reginald's boot culminated in the event that led to his ultimate fall from grace and sanity, the birth of his daughter...


	82. Birth of the Kingdom pt3

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The interrogations weren't going well. The child was placed in Reginald's care for the time being but his constantly increasing work with the natives of the island drove him to push the child onto her rightful father, Rupert. The woman who bore the child revealed nothing, she was but a lifeless shell of the pirate she once was, her will completely destroyed by unknown sources. Soon after the Marines began questioning the remaining male prisoners and Crimson Killers that hid away to train in the forest Rose killed herself by jumping into the sea. The last spark of her Amazonian ferocity was spent in the wild sprint that led her to the bay, outrunning even the bullets the Marines has stored and outlasting the sedatives she was given.

Now a little over four years into the expedition, Reginald was contemplating a voyage for a rescue. He would build a ship with what lumber he could, even if it was alone, and sail out to find help. He kept the plans for the ship, its trajectory and all the details that were needed with him at all times. His trust in the others wavered as much as his presence. He spent nearly all of his time with the bears.

"They are lucky" Reginald said as he crouched in a clearing, watching two man-sized cubs tussle while their parents carefully watched over them. "They don't have to worry about treachery and betrayal among friends and allies. All they have to do is live and play so they can get strong and hunt for Sea Kings in the shallows." Reginald got up and slowly walked away, all the while thinking about how the latest dilemma was rushing his own decisions to leave the island permanently.

"The more I think" Reginald said "the more it seems like a good idea to leave these men to their own devices. But then, would I be any better than the bastards who abandoned us in the first place? We still can't prove that those ships weren't sent adrift in the nearby Calm Belt and destroyed by the Sea Kings there. It is a much more likely tale to tell then they simply 'forgot us' some four years ago. Now this trip is becoming increasingly dangerous for the inmates. The drug is working less and less and the ingredients for it are becoming bothersome to harvest. I'm sure we could find more toxic leaves further into the swamps but..." Reginald looked around. He was now in a wide open clearing, the light form above had gone dangerously dim. He blinked and set his feet shoulder width apart.

"Whoops!" he shouted, rubbing his neck and grinning wide. "Looks like I got lost in thought again! KURURU!!!!!" A rustling came from deep within the darkness. Reginald looked back into the dimmest light and saw the shadows move in huge sections at a time. He started retreating slowly but bumped into a tree. Then a hideous growling came from the same shifting darkness, a deep throaty roar that mimicked the island's native bears. Reginald pieced the information together in his mind and then saw the darkness crawl out in one solid form. A black bear, fur blacker than any natural black would permit, was growling with exposed fangs and gums and wild, yellow eyes at Reginald. He took a serious fighting pose and waited, measuring his opponent and watching for an opening.

The black bear lurched forward and swiped with its claws. Reginald was startled and dodged on instinct, watching the tree he was against earlier splinter and burst apart from the impact force of the bear's claw. Reginald decided that he couldn't easily fight an enemy like this and opted for an early retreat, but had immediate second thoughts.

_Wait_ he thought, _if I, one of the stronger honorary members of the tribe can't handle this thing, how could the other bears do any better!?_ The bear growled and stampeded toward him. Reginald led it into the light, which it wasn't used to, and steered it towards the marshy shallows that led out to sea. The bear obviously couldn't sense any of the obvious danger or it wo0uld have stopped. Instead it went head-over-paw into the ocean while Reginald hung from the top branch of a mangrove tree. Reginald acrobatically flipped over the branch and sent himself foot-first into the bear's face, shooting it down into the deep water while he was able to easily flip through the air, hands in his pockets, and land with a thud into the shallows. A smug grin and stern glare hung on his face until the rush of victory caused him to smile widely and foolishly.

"Man, I'm awesome!" Reginald exclaimed. "Let's see anyone else manage to do THAT!!!" Before Reginald went back to his encampment which had grown into a conglomerated sort of citadel with the close proximity of the wooden constructs and the newly carved rooms built into the mouth of the bear mountain, Reginald stopped by the chieftain's cave to pay his honor to the tribe. He did so with a deep, courteous bow and an offering of his own immediate cooperation in any of their tribal affairs. The chieftain nodded, allowing him to depart, and Reginald waved good-bye to the rest of the bears, observing the minute changes that had taken place over only the past few years. The bear cubs were no longer sent into the wilds with their parents, but were instead watched closely by the elder warriors of the tribe until their parents returned.

The community the bears built in such a short time with such little influence on Reginald's part was amazing. When he arrived quarrels were frequent and usually took place over food and territory in the cramped space. Now A simple barter system was set in place so that any amount of food could be traded fairly for ornate flowers or finely-cut lumber. The specialists who caught all the fish and cut all the lumber for basic uses such as fences and walls inside the caves, were all paid and held in a degree of elevated status. Equipped only with the presence of humans and their society, the above-average bears were able to emulate the basics of human society in only four years! The revelation sent Reginald into a dizzy vertigo and time froze. He found himself alone in his enlightenment and watched the leaves slowly fall from the trees.

* * *

Back at the compound to which Reginald now returned things had settled down considerably. There wasn't a trace of sound coming from the inmate's section and no clattering of dishes or cooking of food form the mess hall either. Things seemed to have stopped without Reginald, adding to his already towering ego another shade of importance. He walked through the empty streets of his fortress until he did finally find a small group of Marines who broke their conversation and saluted him.

"At ease" he said, motioning his hand down. The Marines carried on as if he weren't there, talking amongst each other of somewhat trivial things to the scientist. He marched onward and returned to his central hall, carved deep into the throat of the bear, where all his greatest research notes and documents were held and protected. He opened the doors himself, seeing no need for guards when perpetually silent assassins anxiously waited to nip the buds of rule breakers in the shadows, and intruded upon Kurateka holding the illicit baby in her arms and cooing it. Reginald silently shut the doors and approached.

"There, there" she cooed to the infant. "You're so pale for your age, you know? I think it may be a genetic defect." Reginald suddenly cleared his throat with a banging roar.

"**GRRRAAAUGH-HRAAPH!!!!!!"** Kura jumped straight up into the air from the sound and landed facing Reginald, panting with her arms held tightly around the sleeping baby. "Was it not under my direct orders that that child was to be kept within the nursery at all times until we divulge who the father is?"

"Uuhhh..." Kura hummed. She looked at the baby and innocently tried to hide it behind her back, then clicked her heels together and brushed the incident off as non-existent.

"That's where she is" Kura said.

"You're a terrible liar!" Reginald shouted. Kura admitted defeat and drew the child out again. Soft, white skin and a head of curly white hair with eyes red as blood. All the signs of a rarely seen birth defect Albinism. Kura looked down lovingly at the child, seeing her as a shining idol of innocence in a world of ravaged sin, and then looked up shamelessly at her superior, who stood scowling with his mighty arms crossed.

"There's no helping it" Kura said. "Her mother died of intense trauma almost immediately after her birth. I don't need to remind you that in labor she incapacitated three male nurses in the struggle. Her child could have some prevailing signs of her mother's metal instabilities, especially without a proper maternal figure to become attached to."

"Then take off your bandages" Reginald said "and allow her to become used to your actual face if you're truly serious about raising her." Kura looked over blankly, then focused back on the child, swinging her in her arms. Reginald sighed, seeing her stubbornness ultimately win, and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why in here, may I ask?"

"This is the only place" Kura said "where she won't be exposed to the prisoners outside."

"They aren't that much of a problem" Reginald said. "They're in chains constantly, and the ones on truancy are under surveillance by the Killers."

"Seeing murder at a young age" Kura explained "could hasten the mental trauma that her mother had."

"Enough of this crap" Reginald said. He moved in, which prompted Kura to retreat until she was against a wall. He leaned over her and made a scathing, commanding face. "This child is hereby placed under a lockdown and limited only to the nursery in the infirmary! You and I are the only ones who may look after her unless I specifically inform you or your superiors otherwise! Is that understood!?"

"What about the father?" Kura unconsciously asked. Reginald pushed off the wall and moved away.

"Don't you get it?" Reginald asked. "She _has_ no father. That's exactly what she'll know if she's forced to live in this purgatory with the rest of us!" Reginald forced Kura out with his stern, lashing voice and locked himself in. Kura quickly hurried back to the infirmary, trying not to be spotted, but wound up cornered anyway with her hair dipping out of her bandages from the sheer panic of her rush.

"Where are you taking her?" a towering, wide-mouthed male growled, looming in close to her. Kura backed up and defended the infant with a scalpel blade, but the metal glove of her attacker was quick to swat it away. "**My daughter is my business only!**" Rupert lowed. He snatched the baby Gretta away and cushioned her in the soft velvet of his newly hemmed cape. Several renegade survivalists came out from behind him and Kura found herself helplessly surrounded. Fearing the same fate that met Rose at the hands of Rupert, she back down and straightened up to the strong old man.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked, holding back her stifling sobs of panic.

"Does he know yet?" Rupert asked. Kura shook her head, never ceasing to glare him down. "Good. Mohoho....That makes this easier. It will all go exactly according to plan, tomorrow at noon!" Little Gretta coughed and turned around in the cradle of her father's arm. He looked down at her and smiled proudly, somewhat amused and egotistical at his own handiwork. "That fool has taken his last note...and so have I! Say good-bye to this pitiful life, everyone! Tomorrow we set out on creating an ideal life for all to live!!!" Kura was the only one not cheering with the coup-leading tyrant. She just stood and glanced away, trying to remove herself form the world full of regret.

* * *

The next day, the fated day of the scheduled action, Reginald made his rounds outside the complex to see the tribe once more. He descended through his own well-designed and beaten path, trying to beat the looming rain clouds. He slid down an articulate meandering slope with the worn heels of his Sea King boots and arrived with a roll at the empty clearing of the bears. The small huts and structures they had built with their unbelievable force and community were abandoned, as if all the bears had vanished in the middle of the night. Only one smoke stack was alive, the den of the tribal shaman, a bear older than any human Reginald had ever known. He made his way there and entered unannounced. Again, empty.

"What's going on?" Reginald asked, walking in through the familiar air. He finally reached the source of the smoke, a freshly carved slab of wood. The bears, through Reginald's tutelage, learned wood-carving to communicate more articulately with pictographs and hieroglyphs that they used on their cave walls before. Reginald had memorized their alphabet of symbols and picked up the still-warm tablet. As he read he felt a sharp decline of self, a sense of abandonment, and as he reached the end he started to cry just slightly. In his mind he translated the story into words.

_To our friend, the Man who wears the Skin of Monster (Reginald, drawn much to his true figure), We are sorry that you must come upon this. The regrettable incident that came last night, an attack of the inner-swamp bears left many of us injured. They are becoming ferocious and have kidnapped our cubs already. The warriors who went to defeat them and rescue the cubs never returned. The island, due to the activity of the Bear-Eaten (the humans who lived at the peak of the plateau in the Bear's Mouth formation), has become to dangerous for us. Fear not, for we are safe. Through your words we have built a sturdy craft to sail the seas with to find a new home. We apologize, but the recent thefts were performed by us as we needed supplies. The Sea Kings are plentiful out at sea and our power has become great in only the last few years. We have only you to thank. With the 'Log Pose' (Reginald recognized the drawing, though it was never used by them before) we will find a new home. We hope you will find us well one day._

_Farewell, Monster-Skin, our fellow warrior. We hold you in our hearts as we sail..._ Reginald threw the tablet away and fell to his knees, clutching his eyes with his one hand. The tears wouldn't stop.

_It was because of me_ he proudly thought _that an indigenous species achieved one of the greatest landmarks of civilization! I may have killed them all...or I may have revolutionized the process of intelligence. As a scientist I should be happy...but...**If I were one of them, why did they not bring me?**_

His sadness was broken by the howling of wind coming in through the entrance of the cave. He looked back and saw the distant, churning sea and the dark skies far away. He got up to leave, pinching his nose to try and stop his sadness, but upon leaning on the offertory table where the tablet lay he felt something else familiar. A rough, scaly surface. He turned and found, to his surprise, a suit of scales. The armor of a Sea King fitted only for the man who 'Wears the Skin of Monsters'. Reginald picked it up by the broad shoulders and looked over it long and hard. Man though he was, his emotions took him down and he fell sobbing.

"WHY!?" He demanded into the breast of his breastplate. "**Why aren't I with them!?**" Reginald Drakengard, a scientist under the study of the illustrious Doctor Vegapunk, a man who had given the greatest power and gift to a species came to newly realize his true purpose. With tears fresh on his face he equipped his suit and made his way proudly out to the bay of where he had long ago been abandoned. In his isolation he learned more than he ever had under the tutelage of his superiors, and with a long drawn breath he leaned back and shouted out to the sea his decree to his bear brethren.

"**KURAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!"** The skies echoed with roar and the seas crashed into the land once it was done. His magnificent armor reflected the blue of the sea in a brilliant green sheen in all directions. He wore the skin of a monster, the the skin under that was that not of a man any longer, but of a **bear**.

Suddenly, slow sarcastic applause echoed behind him. Reginald glowered and turned to face Rupert with his billowing mane on his head. For some odd reason he had shaved the rest that circled his face away. He wore his finest, freshly-polished armor and a regal red cape that blew in the soft breeze with a smug tilt of his arrogant face.

"Rupert" Reginald growled, "why are you wearing your armor?"

"Look at us" Rupert said, still applauding. "Mohoho...we look like two nobles facing off in an honor duel, do we not. Ah, but that's right..." Rupert stopped applauding suddenly and grinned a terribly evil grin that wrinkled his whole face. "**You aren't nobility! I am!**"

"What I am" Reginald began "surpasses you flimsy man-made social-title. What I am is greater than any crap you choose to hold over my head! I am a creator! I am a warrior! **I am a GOD!!!**"

"How utterly conceited" Rupert said. "As if a feeble bear-man outranks an office-holding scholar of Marinford!"

"Rupert!" Reginald shouted, "you've been playing me for the fool too long! You're the father of that child, I know it!" Rupert was suddenly shocked and frozen with the revelation. "You've dishonored everything I've given you, all the trust I put in you, and now I'm going to make this mistake right! I know much more than you think, you bastard!"

"What are you saying!?" Rupert asked, drawing back.

"**No"** Reginald growled. He glared up, kicking sparks from his eyes that reflected in the clouds as lightning. "**We're knights, after all. We have to finish this duel no matter what, right? What's honorable about a duel that you can skip out on!? KURAAAA!!!!!**" Reginald made a bold dash forward, reaching and clutching for the collar of Rupert's armor. He grabbed it, jerked it in and gave Rupert a devastating head-butt that sent him to his knees. The fight for retribution was on, and the rain framed the scene in all its disparity and angst as the Monster stood towering over the corrupt Lion...


	83. Birth of the Kingdom pt4

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The duel was on! The fate of the kingdom not-yet-to-be was on the line as Reginald Drakengard charged to fight in his Sea King armor. The man who wears the skin of monsters absorbed the memories of his previous life with the tribe and became a monster who simply wore the skin of a man, throwing thrashing punch after punch into the ground where Rupert retreated from.

"**KURURU!!!!**" Reginald growled. "Come on, Rupert! You're a man! You should be able to face me!!! I thought nobles respected honor and the faith in their name when it came to dueling men below them! Am I so far below you that you can't see?" Rupert stopped and turned around, barely dodging a sweeping jump-kick from the ranting Reginald. "**Or am I simply above you now?**"

"Nonsense!" Rupert shouted. He grabbed Reginald's leg and whipped him around before throwing him over shoulder into the ground. Reginald felt no pain through the thick scale-mail armor he wore and rolled backwards onto his feet. He rose up, brought his fists up before his body and charged in with a roar. Rupert sidestepped him and gave him a chop to the neck with his metal gauntlet. The one unarmored area received the whole hit and sent a shivering shock through Reginald's body. He nearly fell over just as Rupert came up from behind with a hidden blade brandished form within his armor. Thankfully Reginald fell forward, grabbed the ground with his hands and made a spinning kick to deflect Rupert's arm and break the blade it held. The noble didn't relent and came back with two more blades held down in his hands.

"Give up!" Reginald shouted. He grabbed one arm in tight clutch with his body and snared the other at the wrist. He headbutted Rupert into a daze and let him step back to regain his balance before drop-kicking his face. Reginald hit the ground with his armored chest then pushed himself up to his feet with a single huge motion of his arms. Rupert was reeling and writhing on the ground, clutching his face as the blood oozed down from his broken nose. "You know I'm stronger than you." Rupert glared through his parted fingers and sneered. Reginald sensed danger and dodged to the side just as a bullet flew from Reginald's gauntlet.

_A hidden arsenal?_ Reginald noted. _He's gone to such lengths to kill me! How long has he been planning this!?_

"I bet you're thinking" Rupert said as he got up "that I've been planning this for quite a while. Oh, on the contrary. This plan has only come to fruition in the last two months! This season passed by so quickly that you barely noticed all the changes. Soon the perpetual fall and deadly winter will come around and all the civilization you've built up will be washed away in the wake of my new kingdom!"

"What madness are you babbling?" Reginald demanded. "Kingdom? What kingdom? This land belongs to its natives! We are merely here to observe!" Reginald tried to kick Rupert's face but the reawakened noble dodged. Rupert continued jabbing his leg and hopping forward, then stomped the ground and threw himself forward with a punch. Rupert absorbed it with his chest, coughed from the force, then got a stiff uppercut to the jaw. Reginald grabbed at his white bangs before he flew away and yanked him forward into a headlock.

"You think I'm alone in this?" Rupert asked. "Take a guess...how did I convince them to follow me?"

"Who?" Reginald demanded. He heard a dull gunshot from far away and felt the dangerous blunt force hit his armor and bounce off harmlessly. He ducked his head down and flipped over Rupert, holding him hostage now against what seemed to be a distant assailing force. "The Killers? You made the Crimson Killers take arms against me?"

"Those fools" Rupert said "have all gone mad. They keep talking about unfulfilled duties and morals and merit, they can't be reasoned with anymore. No, not them...**them**." Reginald suddenly realized just who _they_ were. He saw Marines and survivalist ex-Marines come from the brush armed with guns and swords. He felt the sights aimed so carefully at him and the glaring light from the swords reflecting his way and he panicked. He threw Rupert away, towards the nearest group, and ran for the sea. He made a flying leap into the water, letting his fingertips split the waves before him as his body went steadily down into the salty body.

_This is the only way_ Reginald thought. _I need to get out of here as fast as I can! Somehow I need to find the bears and stay with them!_ He saw, in the distant darkness, the glaring eyes of a Sea King swimming in the shallows. This caught his attention as the beast slithered away and bullets impacted his super-tough armor. He looked down and saw Marines with custom-made scuba gear and air tanks on their backs with water-proof guns. _What!? How did they make such weapons? How is the powder staying dry!? _Reginald's worry was ill placed as those fantastic guns were shooting at him, their wielders trying to kill him. He used his superior strength and ripped through the water straight down, meeting the Marines as they slowly came up.

He spun around, pulling the currents of water with him, and grabbed two Marines who drifted too close by the legs. He slammed their air-tanks together and let go as the dents he made propelled them up at lethal velocity. Two more Marines were left and they aimed for his face. He flipped over in the water as they fired, avoiding fatal headshots and retaliating with straight kicks to their individual faces. They let go of their breathing apparatuses and drifted away with the water. Reginald looked up and saw bullets flying at him from above the water. He measured the coastline and swam in a wide circle to reemerge somewhere in the cover of the woods.

* * *

The swampy marshes of the island, the area right behind the head of the bear he and his people had so viciously desecrated for their own thankless want. He had swum too far and circled halfway around the island, emerging in fetid, nearly toxic waters that ran off his armor like ooze.

"Oh no" Reginald said with great worry. "Monsters live here. Perhaps I was better of dodging bullets underwater..." Reginald began walking regardless and entered the darkness. He could barely see around him, guiding himself on the reflection his light armor gave to the pools of marsh water all around. He felt his way through the woods, making sure what he gripped was either a tree or one of the carniverous molds that lived within the foliage. If he felt the later he would quickly squeeze it and kill it so it didn't eat away at his precious armor, not that it could. He continued marching along, being as sure of his footing as he could, until he found a clearing where a swarm of glowing bugs swarmed around the bony remains of one monstrous black bear.

"What is this?" Reginald asked himself. The stench of the swamps and their terrible waters masked the stench of an age-old corpse and the flies gave him enough light to see the claw marks on the beast's skull which had surely ended its life. "A ritual burial? No, not these creatures. I would expect an exile like this from my friends but the swamp bears are monsters. They have no more wit than the molds and fungi they must eat." Reginald paced around the bony structure several times, killing what time he had, and listened to the dark woods around him. Nothing.

"Perhaps" he began to the open air "it would be best if I worked my way back to the fortress. At least there, if they aren't already expecting me, I can set up a defense and last them out. I'm the strongest one here, Rupert knows that, and even with the support of the Marines behind him I doubt he was able to coax the prisoners into helping him...not that he needed to. The drug. He's been working on that with Kura and her staff all this time while I researched the bears. They've probably perfected it by now. Those prisoners are bound to be as vicious as these bears if they find me..." A lowing growl came from far off in the dark swamp. Reginald silenced himself and remained perfectly still, standing just in front of the skull of the monster's corpse in the swamp, his rugged and anger-carved face illuminated in the dim orange glow of the fireflies.

Back at the bay and shoreline, Rupert gathered his turn-coat Marines, a force somewhere near fifty strong, and stood before them like a king with his cape billowing in the cool, damp wind.

"Men!" Rupert began, "Heed me!"

"Heed?" a Marine whispered to a companion.

"He's been talking weird" the other responded "for a while now. Not sure why."

"We must consider Drakengard" Rupert continued "to be as dangerous as the vile creatures he nursed for so very long, those detestable beasts whom he abandoned us for over these past four years!"

"That bastard" a Marine growled, his hands shaking the gun he held. "He went off on his own selfish adventures, day after day, while we suffered famine after famine, drought after drought! Plague after plague of that killer mold and fungus! He cared more about those beasts than he did us!"

"And through it all" Rupert added to the rest of the force "he excused himself, saying that it was simply an 'expedition' and that it was all for 'science'. What was he really doing? I have seen, not too long ago, a ship sail out of here made from the trees he forbid us all to harvest from the bear's woods!"

"What!?" the Marines shouted.

"He built them a ship" Rupert said, swaying the anger in his favor "without telling us! He wanted us to remain here forever!"

"Then why didn't he go with them?" a Marine asked.

"They left too fast" Rupert said. "While he distracted all of us with the scandal of my daughter he let the bears prepare his transport in secret, the greedy bastard he is!"

"He is a greedy bastard!" a Marine shouted. "We should kill him!"

"Nay!" Rupert declared, holding up a hand. "We shan't kill him!"

"'Shan't'?" a Marine whispered in confusion.

"We shall give him" Rupert said "a taste of our human efforts, we shall remind him who among this island is truly a superior race! We will sway him by force to our side...using this!" Rupert held up a vial of serum, bright green with smoky blue lines rippling through the glass tube. "This is the triumph of all our hard work here, where the real science was happening, not down in the dirt with those detestable creatures!!!"

"That's...!" a Marine exclaimed.

"It is" Kura said, coming from behind the tall and wide Rupert's cloak, "the end of all our means. Ultimate mental manipulation in a liquid form. **Mujaki Viral Injection Hormones.** They sedate the regular functions of the brain controlling individuality and personality to the point where they become locked away into unknown and uncontrolled parts of the brain. Once the victim is in this state they are open to any and all suggestive hypnosis which will continue until the drug is flushed from their system."

"How long will that be?" a Marine asked.

"Until they bleed it all out" Kura flatly replied.

_It's so ruthless!_ The Marines all thought.

"So now you see" Rupert said "what needs to be done. We will take Drakengard by force and submit him to the triumph of our human ingenuity. Then we will see what silly bear-like things he attempts to conjure up to free himself!"

"YEAH!!!!!" the Marine brigade shouted. The hunt was now on, and Reginald's time wore thin...

* * *

The time he spent in stagnant air had made him sick, so now Reginald moved from the swamp and into the rain. He couldn't tell how many hours had passed hovering around that ancient corpse with the cloud of flies, not could he initially tell it was raining through the iron-hard tree canopy. Only after he broke through those tightly-woven leaves and began his ascent up the steep face of the plateau did he realize that the rains of spring had come to signal the beginning of fall. He clawed his way up, piercing the rock effortlessly with his Sea King gauntlets.

"Unbelievable" Reginald growled. "How Rupert coaxed them all to turn on me is completely unbelievable! Even the survivalists who abandoned their duty to the Marines, they were there as well! I can only hope Kurateka hasn't turned on me as well. She holds all the keys to the medicines they manufactured. And the prisoners...God help us if he let out the prisoners..." Reginald's climb lasted for what seemed to be far too long, but his mind wandered so much that the trip seemed short. His arms burned when they stopped moving as he emerged right at the border of the main vegetable garden.

"At least" he said "they haven't stopped planting. This means they still intend to stay, at least for now." Reginald leaned down and took a handful of the wet soil, peering at it and its crumbled white dots of rock and other drained salty minerals found in all the dirt of the island. The rain hadn't blocked his senses as much as one Marine had hoped and the soil wasn't as captivating to the scientist as he would have otherwise thought. A lone Marine, aiming his gun down at Reginald's exposed head, came into the garden with the lightest of footfalls, but Reginald still caught him. He clutched the dirt hard in his hand and glared up. He threw the was of mud and blinded the Marine, rushing over and grabbing his mouth before he could scream.

"Hi there" Reginald said. "Say, you're a Marine, right. Can you take me to your commanding officer?"

"Hark!" Rupert shouted from a nearby rooftop. "I am already upon thee!" Rupert aimed his own gun down and nearly hit his berserk prey but Reginald dashed away and slid hard in the mud, kicking up the premature buds of greens that were so meticulously planted. He glowered up at Rupert, stunning him with his hard gaze, then fled as the windows of the house he stood on became filled with gun fire, all aimed at him. He took to the same roofs as his enemy and began running and jumping across them at amazing speed. His armor didn't weight him down in the slightest. If anything, wearing it made him want to run faster and fight harder.

"I can get to the armory" Reginald planned "and lock myself inside!" He made a break for the heavily guarded, iron-bolted doors across the streets, keeping a careful eye on his pursuers. They were far off but still firing at him. He saw another squad run in his way and set themselves up as a wall. He jumped down from the roofs, losing no speed, and ran straight at them.

"Aim!" the apparent captain of the squad commanded. They saw Reginald crash into the street and then dash madly at them, his body just barely above the ground. Then he tackled them, all five of them, with his long, strong arms and threw his body forward, heaving all five into and through the armory doors. He prepared to go inside as well but saw yet more turncoat Marines aiming him down with much stronger weapons inside. He fled, keeping his head down, and endured the dull thuds of cannon fire against his immortal organic armor.

"Fools!" Reginald yelled. "If you can't hurt a Sea King with those peashooters what makes you think you can pierce my armor!? This is the effort not of a superior species but of superior tribal well-being!"

"So you say" Rupert shouted from the streets where he ran, "but what do you truly think?"

"That our efforts" Reginald replied "helped change a species into one capable of nautical travel! We taught bears how to sail! How is that nothing short of amazing!?"

"So you admit to it!" Rupert exclaimed. "You helped them build that boat!"

"**NO!!!!**" Reginald shouted, stopping even the rain for a moment. He stopped at the gates of the fortress and allowed Rupert the chance to catch up. Then he turned and faced him down. "They left without me, dammit. I had no idea what the were capable of and now...I've been abandoned. All of us have. Without them the Swamp Bears will overrun us in no time, knowing that we're unprepared and waging senseless civil wars!"

"Senseless?" Rupert repeated. "Was it senseless or thoughtless how you abandoned your own men to fend for their lives in this harsh, unforgiving environment? Face it Reginald, you failed us all and now you will pay for it fully! You underestimated the importance of our research here and got wrapped up with those furry monsters! **Seize him!**" From the shadows behind the houses an army of soldiers rushed out. Reginald whipped his head around, trying to track all of their motions, but lost himself in the panic and began fighting in all directions.

He threw long punches and powerful kicks to shake them away but they kept coming as hard as they could, smashing against his armor and slamming guns into his exposed head. They finally overcame him, swarming over him while Rupert moved in with his head held high, and stripped away the breastplate of his armor. His arms were locked at both sides by five men each and he was held down by two heavy men pressing on his shoulders. He was defeated.

Rupert grinned from crooked ear to ear with his animistic fangs glaring in the stormy rain, and he took something from within the folds of his cape. The pieces fell into place in Reginald's mind and the ground of his brain sundered under the weight. Rupert drew out the child, **a baby with pure-white skin wrapped in a regal red velvet.**

"You..." Reginald growled, "...you bastard."

"A bit late" Rupert said, holding his daughter carefully in one cradling arm, "on the draw...**aren't we**?" The words bit Reginald like the iron-trap jaws of a bear, an ironic sting in his final lucid moments...


	84. Birth of the Kingdom Final

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

It was quite the spectacle to see that grim, rainy day. Reginald Drakengard, undoubtedly the strongest man on the island, brought down by his nefarious and underhanded assistant of pompous royal regard. Rupert Lioncrest, the new monarch of the Ookumaiwa Kingdom, stood in victory over his beaten foe with his baby, future princess, in his large arm.

"MOHOHOHOHO!!!" Rupert laughed. "Men, gather round! Come hither!" The Marines and loyalists wearing their hooded rain coats, torn and tattered with age and use, came from all directions with statue-solid faces of their duteous positions as soldiers.

"What does 'hither' mean?" one Marine asked another as he got into line.

"Just go with it" the Marine answered. "He's been doing that for a while now..."

"Behold!" Rupert announced. "This wretch here, who lies like a pile of such rancid filth, is captured and awaits his vanquish! His power can no longer free him from our mighty grasp!" Rupert leaned down to bring his face in close with its handsome smile of mockery and whispered, "Now who is the mighty one?" Reginald struggled to free himself just an inch and threw his head forward, but missed his opportune headbutt. Rupert gave him a flat kick to the head, jostling his brains a bit.

_I shouldn't have done that_ Reginald thought. _He might have dropped the child..._ Reginald smiled at his own foolishness and began to laugh, playing himself effortlessly into the role of the villain struggling in vain against the heroes attempts. He burst out with a sudden giggle, then heightened it into full-blown mad laughter.

"**KUUURURURURURURURUUU!!!!**" he roared into the sky, causing a crack of rupturing tenor lightning. The Marines all cringed in sequence as the chills transferred from spine to spine in close contact. They had honestly believed, for a moment, this man could summon up lightning as he wished. That wasn't the case, thankfully, and as the thunder rolled away Reginald calmed down, sedating himself into a low growling, heavy breathing with dangerous glares aimed up at the stiff Rupert. "A bear can smell the sweat of its prey for up to a hundred yards" Reginald said. He then took in two sharp breaths through his nose, keeping his teeth bared, and widened his grin. "I can smell all kinds of fear here..."

"You will torture us no more!" Rupert shouted, inciting cheers from the Marines around him. "Look around you, Reginald! We are abandoned! Instead of living with that you searched for help. When we were already adjusting to out lives here you came in, waving your distinguishable that mean nothing on this no-man's land, and took over what we had considered a good way to live! You demanded that we not defend ourselves against the bears or the natural creatures of this 'paradise' and each fall we had to defend against that corrosive, deadly slime of moss! You simply walked in when it benefited you, or appeased you, or somehow gave you pleasure and caused such extreme shifts in our lives! Who gave you the right to plan our paradise!? What kind of paradise is a dictatorship, a monarchy where one ill-minded man rules over the domain of his subordinates!?"

"RAAAAAAGH!!!" the Marines roared. Reginald looked at them in a hot glance then directed his gaze down in disgust.

_Idiots_ he thought with regret. _Do you think he's going to do any better? Is he really going to step up and form a democracy? Are you all so willing to believe him over me...just because I felt like we were all abandoned. I tried to make the best of this trip, hoping we hadn't been forgotten, but it seems the world will always spin in strange ways out on the Grand Line whether I am stranded, lost or simply misplaced. My world was the only one I controlled, the only one I paid attention to...They won't listen to me now, but I am sorry. I **did** abandon them. I ordered them at my own benefit, like he says, but I always kept their survival in mind before my own! They should know that if they are truly free men..._ Reginald suddenly jerked his head up, nearly throwing off the men holding him down with his sudden, powerful muscular movement.

"Wait!" Reginald pleaded. "Think about it! Who between us planned the crops, the buildings, the inmate work and coordination for all of your safety!? Who between he and I did the most to help this camp until help came, to prepare us not for a quick leave but for the lengthy stay, while the other spent his time doing inhuman deeds!?" Rupert glared down at Reginald, then switched that glare to another innocent Marine. That Marine simply stood and sweated, holding his gun tight in hand. Rupert turned around and went down the line with his pouting glower, baby in hand, and made sure his power went unrivaled.

_That's right_ Rupert thought _you little sheep. Don't you dare make any sudden bleats in this madman's favor!_

"I agree" a woman said. With all eyes upon her, in entered Kevorkia, a shameful visage of her former self. She stared only at the ground with her one beautifully blue eye exposed and began walking softly forward. "It is true. Reginald did everything he could to help us in a helpless situation. We are all alive because he came in to bring us out of our despair and lift our spirits through our unity. He is the reason we are all still here...**but that is just the problem...**" Kura took out a syringe full of the luminescent green liquid, the fabled drug, and walked over to the pinned man. The look of gracious mercy on Reginald's face, the look of a saved sinner, was quickly washed away.

"Not you too..." he said, a dialect like a beaten dog of a man. "Not you, Kura..." Kura looked away and chocked back a sob. She wiped away a tear with her wrist and walked forward, her dry gauze wetting from within over her other eye. She tapped the needle, testing the liquid inside, and prepared herself to do the unthinkable.

"This" Kura began "is the undiluted filter of the drug. It completely removes the current personality and opens the mind one hundred percent. Traits, characteristics, self-image, world-image, entire series of thought; this Mujaki serum can wipe a person's mind completely clean of all thought, past present...and future..." Her voice had drifted off into a low, almost painful whisper, and she knelt down, removing the gauze around her mouth away from the sight of any man watching. The infant Gretta began bawling as another sweeping roll of thunder echoed through the plateau. She disengaged her kiss, planting it who knows where, and reset her gauze, leaving the needle **stabbed into his neck, empty of the serum.**

"I'm sorry" she said silently. That was his lost image for years, the last conscious recollection he had before his life was stolen and systematically destroyed, was her lips moving to those words as he fell forward, mind bleached clean...

* * *

The rain stopped and the living dead body of Reginald still sat on its knees in the middle of the street. Rupert had demanded all the Marines to fall back and keep a safe distance in case the animal instincts kicked in and Reginald went totally berserk. Kurateka retreated immediately to the infirmary and cried as loudly as she could. She had just killed her friend, one of the only ones she knew she had, and on top of that a father figure. She stained a pillow with her screaming sobs while the terrible events transpired outside.

"Smell" Rupert commanded, holding out his unarmored hand. Reginald took in a whiff, acting purely on the reactions his brain had to the word. Rupert withdrew his hand and held out his daughter, whom he had made sure preemptively was perfectly clean. "Smell" Rupert commanded again. Reginald had now recorded those two scents into his mind under an unknown category. "Ally" Rupert said.

And that was it. Reginald rose up to his feet, head still stupidly hanging down, and understood. Rupert and his daughter, for those long and often dark sixteen years, were his only known allies. He faded in and out as the drug in his blood diluted over the years, most of the refills replacing what was lost either in battle or in metabolism. Each time he faded back to blackness he noticed the changes around them and always kept them. The first time was immediately after an intense battle where a brief moment of lucidity granted him a glance up at the Bear Skull. No longer a head, it had been gutted and torn down to make what looked like a gigantic, lavish castle. He saw the bodies all around him, the bloodies halberd in his hand, and then he ran up the hill where the trees had been torn down to make a path all the way up to the palace.

Then, years later he assumed, he awakened in the black winter of death surrounded by fighting. He watched his body move without feeling the motions, an outside observer inside an uncontrolled mind, fighting against the crew of Dark D'Leon, a terrible name in his own time as one of the first men to succeed in the Grand Line after Roger began the Age of Piracy. His crew consisted of the twin-dragons from the East Blue, weapon masters Lance Lischer and Man O. War the Macesmiths. His vision skipped to prodding them with a rusty spear from his cage into theirs, watching them wince and succumb to the intense mental exhaustion they were put through. Dark was the last to fall, and Reginald never saw or remembered of him again.

Then, more years later he determined by the state of the still constructing castle, he fought against Sally 'Steel Rope' Morganna, a pirate notorious for her mastery of fighting with woven bands of super-thick ropes. Her ship was unsinkable, it was equally rumored, all news he learned by fighting her and recalling her brags as she blocked his blade with her super-tough ropes. She jumped away, hair at that young time in her life braided around the base of her neck in long, thin, but sturdy braids of brown. Her head was tattooed all over with dreadful skulls aflame and gnashing mouths and maws of teeth.

"You fool!" Sally shouted, throwing her ropes again, Reginald expertly leaning away at each. "You can't beat me, here! I'm the 'Steel Rope' gal! Ain't 'cha heard of me, here!? I got the im-beatable style, here!!!" Reginald saw himself bat away one of her attacks with his impressively increased muscle mass, then watched the surroundings blur as he rushed in to bash her nose to pieces. Next he awoke to see her deep in her brainless programming stage, a few days after his victory. It must have been a few days to break down her psyche for better results, and that's when he saw how Kurateka had grown out her curly, blue hair through the cracks of her gauze.

Again he awoke, this time conscious of his body and in control, but felt nothing but searing pain. A young girl of nearly six was taken in a blanket, flush in her stark-white cheeks with fever, from the wing by a nurse, Kura walking behind. Reginald tried to speak but found that he had been bound in bandages. Kura gave him a look, trying to acknowledge what she thought was a feeling he sent to her, but brushed it off with a shake of her head.

Once more Reginald saw himself fighting. Then he saw only his dark cell. Then the grim-looking food he was forced to eat. Then Gretta, ten years old, ordering him into battle against a familiar bunch of pirates who had become the castle help, town guard and some of them paladins. Then, with an overcast sky as his first vision, he caught a quick glimpse of the rage that was the warring Ramone Cervantes with his deadly Plague of Abadon activated overhead. Then blackness. Reginald heard the sounds of fighting, the deafening hum of the insects all around, the pain of many tiny bits and the impact of his fists against a brittle surface which easily broke. He felt the fight, he heard the fight, and all throughout it he only hoped that what he did was done to protect the others of the island, the people whom he abandoned so long ago. Then he saw it, Ramone's broken face and white eyes. The insects around him were all dead, as was the grass they all ate, but he was still struggling to live.

Ramone looked up at him through his milk-covered eyes, grabbed his face suddenly with one hand, then crawled up with the other, and rebuilt his face in an instant to appear as Reginald's.

_WAKE UP!!!_That was then. So long ago he was surprised he could remember. The castle had been built off the backs of so many men, so many women and children taken and brainwashed just the same. He remembered fighting the guards of civilians from other islands who sought refuge on this isolated place. The women and men and children were all placed within this peaceful place, an ideal world built by a mad man for his daughter. The only reason for the endless torment was to play at one man's fancy, live one man's dreams...

* * *

Now Reginald beheld the world, a rolling sky of dark clouds that carried no rain, a castle looming as if it were about to fall, rolling dry grass of that ageless Fall season, the despicable man-made roads and secret buildings, and of course the monster itself. An intertwining array of warring dragons forming an even more intricate dragon's skull. That's when reality hit him, and the hope resounding all around came to his senses!

It was no monster, technically, but **Bard D. Samekawa**, the young man who had come just in the day, and within only a single day revealed the demon lurking beneath the skin of this horrible, two-decade long debacle. The real monster loomed before him, a lumbering beast of grotesque, gigantic build, fueled by the efforts of science gone terribly wrong. The hope from that shimmering gold on that royally resonating black cape lifted his heart, a heart heavy with grief and compiled regret. Reginald wiped a tear from his eye and voiced his final realization.

"It's over" he said. "Finally...the nightmare...Bard, it's over..."

"Nope!" Bard cheerfully said, tapping his nose with a brush of his thumb. He turned back, eyes wild with adventurous fighting spirit, and smile. "**This is just getting started!!!**"

"**MOHOHOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!**" Rupert laughed demonically. He clenched and unclenched his fists, flexing his huge, sinuous muscles which bulged out nearly tearing his skin apart. His back was light red from the thin stretching of the old skin that covered his muscles. He was past the point of saving. Even if he was unbeatable, Reginald knew, he would die eventually from an overdose. Bard struck a pose, taking his right leg far back, bending far down into the dip of his wide-spread legs. His torso was turned to the side, a portrait stance, with his left arm flexed tight up and down and his right arm drawn back and fist knotted tight for a punch.

"Time for a Buster Beatdown!" Bard shouted. His crew cheered, standing as an audience bordering the apparent battlefield. Rez watched with a stern but trusting gaze, a look that believed in Bard to fight. He was proud to stand and watch him do what he couldn't, if that is he could. Araly tended to Zan more, not caring at all over the obvious results of the battle to be, while Ramone tried to stir. He coughed up bugs, which prompted Araly to calmly move to the other side of Zan while the little critters scurried back inside his head.

"Where's 'e at...?" Ramone groaned.

"Who, Bard?" Araly said. "He's about to fight the king." Ramone closed his left eye and let the right one wiggle out of its socket and form into the Tengufly to fly over the bleachers and on top of the princess' throne. Gretta was at the top of stands, watching between the metal bars, hand on the cheek where she'd been slapped. She watched her father's hideous form, Bard's fearless opposition, Reginald's gracious smile, the pirates and their cheerful charisma, their belief in their optimistic captain. She watched it all with a flood of overwhelming feelings. Anger, sadness, happiness, regret, empathy, sympathy, grief, pride; all things she had never known to exist over her flat sarcasm and apathy. She fell to her feet and hid her face in her hands, ashamed of her weakness in showing emotions.

_Oh, father_ she bemoaned, _what have you become...what have you made me...? Who should I believe? Who should I trust? Where can I go now, who can protect me...or...who must I protect now?_ Gretta found a renewed purpose. She would see this battle through with one last royal decree.

"BARD!" Gretta shouted from the gate. She pushed herself up onto the iron bars and leaned out over the wall with her legs dangling behind her. "I have a royal command to bestow upon you!"

"Eh!?" Bard shouted back in confusion.

"Defeat my father" Gretta commanded, tears still in her eyes, "and see that this land becomes what it was, not what he wanted it to be! **I hereby order a full-scale rebellion, now dethrone the KING!!!**" A rush of panic went through the villagers. A wave of pride crashed into the pirates. Bard just shrugged.

"Order or not" Bard said "that's what I'm doing!" With purpose in mind and honor in heart, Bard began the battle and Soru'd forth, into the storm with his mighty fists of change!!!


	85. The One Day Coup pt1

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The rain clouds were finally gone. A hopeful blue was shining out from the sky, a calming reflection of the mighty sea that covered the world floating eternally above the actual, ravenous Grand Line ocean where so many lives went to end. High on a plataeu of an island where a castle was built, a coup was taking place. That whole coup, formed form a previous coup, was started as all great revolutions are. With a kick.

"**RANKYAKUU!!!**" Bard shouted. He made a kick straight up and sliced a neat cut from Rupert's deformed, overly muscular shoulder to his hip. Then he rushed in, hands clenched into wave-breaking fists, and prepared to attack with a mighty battle cry! "**RAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!**"

"GO BARD!!!!" the crew cheered. Rupert kicked Bard away when he got to close, sending him right into his line of pirates. They all screamed at the same time and ran for cover, except Rez who just stood with his arms crossed.

"Geppou!" Bard called. He kicked off the air and was sent into a short spiraling spin. Then he landed on his hands and feet and pushed himself back up, gathering his breath with long, slow draws from the air. "Well, he's kinda fast. That's surprising!"

"You sure you can do this?" Rez asked. "I'm not exaggerating when I say he's easily twice your size."

"That's all relative" Bard said.

"What's relative mean?" Rez asked, testing Bard's intellect. Bard bit his lip and shut his eyes, preventing any of his uneducated guesses from making him looked even more idiotic than he wanted. Rez took the silence for what it was worth, however, as stupidity. "You idiot!" Bard reset his face to the excited combative glare before and tensed his fists.

"Now that I know how fast he is" Bard began "I can move around him. Stay out of his time and get him into mine!"

"His time?" Rez asked.

"Tim_ing_" Bard corrected. "You happy now!?"

"No" Rez huffed. Rupert charged in and swung one powerful arm down, blowing apart the ground like a tree had fallen. Rez and bard both jumped away, but Rez kept sailing through the air until he landed. Bard kicked off the air again and roared toward Rupert's undefended neck.

"Rankyakuu!" Bard shouted, extending a kick into Rupert's neck. The cutting energy flowed over and past the thick, meaty trunk of a neck the grotesquely giant man sported. The kick still connected as a solid blow, but the cut did nothing aside from pissing Rupert off. Bard stepped onto his shoulder and hopped over his head just as one of the huge arms came up to swat him away. Bard gave a driving downward elbow to the top of Rupert's head, jarring him for a moment, then dropped down and delivered a Geppou-powered drop-kick to his chin. Rupert groaned and staggered backwards a few steps while Bard landed with a flip onto the ground.

"Take this!" Bard shouted as he stepped in for a punch. He got up close enough to make a flying uppercut into his diaphragm but was kicked away but a flailing, dizzied leg. Bard hit a tree, buckled it in half and then stopped at another tree where his crew had taken hiding behind. He fell to the ground, coughed out the pain and got back up with two fists and a smile.

"Captain!" a pirate exclaimed. "We still believe in you...but can you take the battle somewhere else?"

"We value our life" another pirate began "as much as we value your victory."

"Alright" Bard said. "I'm taking this to the castle, then!"

"GO BARD!!!" a burly pirate shouted as his captain ran off.

"The castle?" Reginald said, reviewing Bard's plan. He looked over at the accursed structure, the tomb of his honor, the home of his wretched shame, and glared down at a nearby house. He recognized the color, structure, pattern and design all from memories he never knew he had, ones from when these armory houses were built as final bastions against riots of any kind. He made a charge for the house, roared as he plowed through the thin wall, and stopped in the middle of the blank floor. There was a fire place in the main sitting room which he marched over to and tore off with a simple movement of his arms. The bricks that made the hearth were no more than painted wood.

"It's been far too long" Reginald said "since I used this. A weapon given to me in honor of my warrior status among the Bears..." Reginald reached out and grasped the perfectly carved wooden hilt. A halberd staff with the sharpened tooth of a Sea King for a blade, woven onto the smooth and perfectly preserved wooden handle with the very monster's steel-strength red hair. A weapon made from a monster for a man who wore monsters. Reginald spun it around his head and sliced open the door with two clean cuts, blasting down the doorway with a flying kick that sent him back into the open to join the fight.

"A wise idea" Reginald lowed. "We shall end this where it all began...that terrible place will be both our tombs if need be, Rupert." He saw Bard leaping to and fro, throwing kick after punch at Rupert, going nowhere fast against the behemoth. The scar from his first attack was already closed and barely visible. Reginald scowled and charged in.

* * *

"Hey! HEY!!!" Steel-Rope Sally shouted. "Take it easy, here!" Kurateka was stabbing and stalking quickly after the pirate as she blocked with her thick ropes. The acidic mixture inside the syringes splashed on the rope as she stabbed and swiped, causing small holes to smoke their way out. Kura didn't relent. She knew who this person was and was hellbent on restoring what little order she saw could be restored. If this meant reeducating an entire island of natives born from disgraced Marines and prisoners, then so be it.

"I'm not letting you escape" Kura said, taking out a scalpel. From behind her rope guard Sally couldn't see but Kurateka was easily slicing a path through the rope with her tiny knife, digging away the steel-strength fibers with each stab and slice and hook she made. The mad nurse finally got through to the pirate on the other side and began stabbing with her syringe once more. Sally used a hidden rope to catch the attack and break off the needle, losing the rope to the acidic burn in the process. Then she ran to gain an advantage in this battle.

"What a bitch!" Sally exclaimed. "I barely remember where I am and some wacko with white hair is trying to knock my block off, here! What a freaking weird-ass island!!" Sally continued running, unsure as to just why the fight had started so suddenly, until she came upon the stands of the audience that had been seated from before. She vaguely remembered that, along with some wavy blue-haired girl giving her a proper ass kicking. Not only that but she did it with ropes and pieces of paper. Sally knew when her reputation had been tarnished and moved in to give the defenseless girl a lesson...

Araly, meanwhile, had no idea of the impending forces stalking after her. She was more concerned with keeping Zan, Ramone and Colleen alive. Colleen was at least improving, her system getting more rapidly hydrated without shocking her system. Ramone was breathing, and as far as Araly could tell with his complicated body, that was a good thing, and Zan was stirring on his own at last. He managed to get up on his own now that his stint was properly in place.

"Mind if I smoke?" Zan asked his doctor.

"I'm going to check on Bard" Araly said. "Keep you eye on these two for me, please." Zan nodded and reached for his cigarettes which he had kept against the leather straps of his harness but he didn't find them. He searched his form for the pack, still not finding it in his harness. He searched his pants, starting in the back, and saw the figure of a pirate coming through the brush with a murderous glare. Though his sharp eyes caught it he ignored it for a moment and continued looking, twisting around himself twice in search of cigarettes. Sally came quietly through the brush with a thin rope in her hands. She whipped forward, took the rope around Zan's neck and began choking him. At least, she thought she was. Zan simply let the rope phase through his neck with a perfectly straight, blank stare ahead.

"Hey" he began to the shocked Sally, "you got a cigarette on you?" Sally was so utterly confused that she had no words to use. She just stuttered with nonsense grunts and cracks of her voice. Zan spun around on his good leg and delivered a quick jab to a pinpointed spot on her neck which stunned and incapacitated her instantly. Kurateka came through the brush after Sally had hit the ground and panted for a few seconds. Her presence hadn't been discovered among the four unconscious bodies, it seemed, and the blue-haired girl was wide open from behind as she stood at the top of the bleachers. Kurateka took out a syringe, filled this time with sedative blue, and glared up at the girl she would attack. She ran two steps and tripped over her own feet at the third.

"What the hell!?" Kura shouted, revealing her presence. Once again, Zan saved Araly without her paying the slightest bit of attention.

"Hey" Zan greeted, forcing Kura to throw her vision downward. Seeing the body with its hand gripped tight around her ankle and a casual salute and wink nearly made her eye bulge out of her head. "I don't suppose _you've_ got a cigarette on hand, do you?"

"Pervert!" Kura exclaimed. "There's a pervert trying to feel up my pantyhose! Someone save me!"

"At least I'm not an attempted murderer" Zan said. "I'm an accomplished assassin."

"Oh no!" Kura moaned dramatically. "You're going to kill me, aren't you? Don't you care about what beauty you would be reaping from the world, how many men you'd disappoint?"

"No" Zan said flatly "and I'm not going to kill you."

"Why not?" Kura whined. "At least make it interesting."

"KYAAAA!!!" Araly shouted. Zan and Kura looked up to see Araly running down the bleachers as fast as she could while the princess fled by two steps at a time and ran over to the company of Zan and the still unconscious Ramone. She made a dive for the ground and covered her head just as the walls around the castle crashed apart. Rupert staggered in with his giant form, decimating the stone wall as he was pushed back ever more by Bard's endless onslaught of kicks to his face. Bard kicked him with one leg and propelled himself forward with Geppou with the other. Reginald, who was panting and sweaty from his own actions against the king, ran after the amazing feat just as Bard pushed Rupert into the courtyard proper.

"Amazing!" Reginald exclaimed. "I didn't think it possible that Geppou could be used so effortlessly with only one leg!" The dust and rubble cleared finally as Reginald ran forward. He stepped on something that seemed to shatter with an odd crunch and looked down. The dust finally settled and he saw his foot planted **through Ramone's chest.** His eyes initially bugged and his mouth quivered a bit until he realized the man was fine. How? Ramone woke up and looked tiredly up at Reginald.

"Why" Ramone groaned "at every pass must you attempt to kill me...?"

"Sorry" Reginald said as he hung his head. Zan opened his eyes and saw nothing but white, a fluffy head of silken white hair all curled upon itself like a bundle of white rose petals. Gretta looked up with her cynical red eyes and stared deeply into Zan's sharp, lethal gaze with a white-hot intensity.

"You got a cigarette?" Zan asked. Gretta blinked at him and covered her mouth.

_No_ she thought. _I don't want him to see me smile..._Bard had reduced his once intricate method into a simple, almost too simple, strategy. His arms were even crossed as his one foot lazily extended for each push he needed while his right leg went left and right and up and down and all kinds of other mixed directions, creating an inescapable combo that Rupert could only take to the face.

* * *

_This is getting a bit boring _Bard realized as he kicked and kicked in a predictably random pattern. _I need a cool way to finish this._ Bard looked around and saw that he was heading for the already somewhat broken statue in the center of the yard. Bard formulated a brilliant idea that would look just as good in action as it would in his mind.

"Bard!" Reginald called as he rushed into battle. "Bard, get him into the castle!"

"Okay" Bard agreed, "but first watch this!" Bard planted his kicking foot, then his Geppou foot onto Rupert's face. He waited for the beast to try and pull him off with his slow but sure hands, then gave him a solid kick and flipped back down to the ground, landing with a hand to the broken cobblestone. Rupert stumbled back a few steps, the statue right behind him, and revealed his bleeding, mangled, smiling face.

"**MOHOHO!!!**" Rupert laughed. "**What strong legs you have!!!**" The set up was even within Bard's grasp.

"The better to **kick your ass with!!!**" Bard roared back. He stomped forward, both arms drawn up in their attack poses, and took in a deep breath. Reginald looked on curiously at the strange events around him, namely Bard's strange style of taunting. Bard leaned back to gain some speed and Soru rushed in. He became a dart in the air, too fast to track, and aimed his shoulder square at the center of Rupert's chest. "Tekkai Tackle!" Bard's body became solid as iron and drove deep into Rupert's most solid part, his sternum. All that force echoed through Rupert's beaten body and sent him stumbling backwards into the statue which crumbled under his weight. Rupert fell back, crippled by pain, while Bard stayed frozen in place on his broad, muscular stomach.

_Alright!_ Bard enthusiastically thought. _I can't move! This sucks..._ Reginald came rushing in while he saw the opportunity and came around the right side of Rupert's body. He stabbed his halberd through his hand and into the ground, not surprised that the monster didn't notice, then went to help Bard up. He took Bard in his arm and tried to stand him up but the boy's feet wouldn't bend right.

"Give it a minute" Bard said through frozen lips and clutched teeth. "I'll be fine!"

"You're something else, kid" Reginald said. Bard took it as a compliment, though it wasn't spoken as one. Bard finally unfroze and placed his fists upon his hips heroically, beaming a proud but childishly modest grin.

"Yeah" Bard said with a wide smile. "I've always been great at fighting, though not much else. Like when I used to wrestle and box with bears back on my home island! They were tough guys to beat, always trying to rip me apart with their claws and teeth!" Bard's innocent memory gave Reginald a snap of pain and he motioned away. He turned his memories of sadness and despair into hatred for the very man he stood on, whose chest was still moving as he continued to breath. Reginald looked at his halberd pierced through his hand and formed a terrible idea.

"Bard!" Reginald shouted with a commanding voice. Bard was snapped from his dreamy reminiscence and looked down at Reginald. "Help me dislocate his shoulder! His skeletal structure may have grown with this supplement but that doesn't mean it's properly set. We can disable his arm entirely!"

"Great!" Bard exclaimed. "What should I do?"

"His hand's already held in place" Reginald said, motioning to the halberd. "We just need to give it the right push." Bard nodded. He saw that drive in Reginald's eye, the striving need for vindication, and knew that he wanted to be a part of it too. He hopped down to the ground just as Rupert recovered his senses and began sitting up.

"**Oh?**" he grunted. He looked over and saw Reginald preparing a long running charge. "**What are you going to do Drakenga-"** He stopped because he had just now noticed that his arm was disabled, at least for the moment. The wooden shaft of the halberd was so tough that no amount of jerking could simply free his arm. It was pinned down until the halberd was retrieved, so he brought his left arm over his bulky body to pluck it out. When he made that motion Reginald began running. "**You think that this toothpick is going to stop me!?**" Rupert's fingers neared the shaft of the weapon, Bard's signal to step in from behind and stop him.

"Hi!" Bard greeted. He took one finger in his hand and kicked the thumb away.

"**Let go!**" Rupert demanded. Bard simply shook his head and turned around. He grabbed the finger from behind his head and then began spinning Rupert's huge wrist by slowly rotating in place. Creaks and cracks that the maniac king couldn't feel were heard in rapid succession until his wrist, to his utter horror, had been turned around **in a full circle**. He knew it wouldn't be helping him anymore. Bard threw his grip and yanked the rest of Rupert's arm towards him. He grabbed his twisted wrist and pressed it with his heavy arms against his shoulder, grinding his feet into the other hand that he stood on.

"GO FOR IT!!!" Bard shouted. Reginald was running at full speed towards Rupert's chest and brought his forearms together, clasping them with his hands to brace his body for the impact.

"**KURUUUUUU!!!!!**" he roared as he leaped into the air. The first explosive release of two decades of torture was a great one. The extreme anger he had turned into power and focus drove Rupert's shoulder out of socket, bone apart from bone, and split the tendons still holding the arm together under skin completely apart. The arm hadn't just been dislocated, now only the flesh and mercy of God was holding it together with the rest of his gruesome body.

Reginald drew his halberd from the monster's palm, ran out with a growling face as Bard jumped and hopped to his side. As Rupert got up to roar his bloody pain away the two men turned to each other and slapped hands together with a thunderous echo! A manly high five!!!


	86. The One Day Coup pt2

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"**BASTAAAARDS!!!" **Rupert roared as the two who had so gravely injured him walked coolly away. "**Decrepit old SOD! ARROGANT SON OF A BITCH!!!" **Bard stopped in place and clenched his fists. Reginald looked and saw Bard's twisted, angry face.

"Bard" Reginald began. Too late. Bard had made up his mind and made a Soru rush backwards. He jumped up with the tap of his toes and spun around to deliver a huge punch to Rupert's upper stomach. The beastly man tensed his abdomen to absorb the impact but was still driven back with his feet driven against the ground. Bard had still left a deep indent where his blow landed and used it as a foothold to step up, then kicked another foothold to reach Rupert's face so he could continue his onslaught. Though his massive left arm was disabled Rupert was quick to swat the pesky boy away with his right.

"**FOOLS!!!**" Rupert roared. "**Neither of you can stand up to me! Why, just look at yourselves! You look like files trying to bring down a mighty mountain boar! MOHOHOHOHOOO!!! I shall swat you away with every attempt you make!**" Bard regained himself in the air and landed skidding on his feet. Once he stopped he began running straight forward again.

"RAAAAAGH!!!" Bard roared. He jumped up with both legs folded back and sailed for a few meters before making his attack. "Rankyakuu!! Double Edge!!" Bard kicked twice, the blades whizzing through the air and twisting into each other, forming a spiraling cross-shaped bullet of sharp energy. Rupert jerked his shoulders and let his limp left arm absorb and deflect the blow. Bard landed and used the energy of his continuous motion to hop up above the beast's shoulder to deliver another straight kick to his face.

"Take it back!" Bard demanded. "Let me hear it!"

"**MOHOHO!**" Rupert cackled, his face not even moved by Bard's planted foot. **"Take what back, boy? That he is a broken old elder...or that your mother is a despicable animal!?"** Yet another brash move by the cock-sure king. Bard was only further infuriated by the insult and lurched his shoulders forward, pressing his foot in.

"**SORU STOMPING!!!**" Bard bellowed. He brought both his feet into the king's face and began making short, straight stomps with his Soru movement. Reginald knew that his attack would only be in vain, another flaw in a series of failed sieges on that fortress-like body. Rupert's body whipped around and his huge right arm came swinging down. Bard leaped over it, stomped the air to fall back down and gave a powerful roundhouse in mid-air. Rupert's chin was jarred, if not wholly disconnected from his skull, and he began a drunken stumble backwards, towards the already tattered castle walls.

Bard landed, his hands flat and his arms both drawn back in his low leaning crouch, a martial-artist's serious pose with a determined fighter's serious face. "You" Bard began "don't deserve to call my mother names, you jackass! Now take what you said back!"

_It's an expression_ Reginald thought with a face scrunched together with disbelief. His expression gave way to a more hopeful gaze, however, as the sun started peaking through the moving clouds. _Still, his power is amazing. We could win this yet without any grand physical implications!_ Just as that hopeful prospect crossed Reginald's mind he saw Bard charge forward, sailing an inch over the ground, with an utter reckless abandon for his defensive posture. Both his arms were wound back to punch and offered him no guard for his exposed torso. Rupert, thought shocked and jostled out of his right mind from the solid blow to the chin, was able to defend himself at the last moment with a swift kick that sunk in to Bard's gut and threw him up into the air. Bard limply dangled in the air for a moment, unable to regather himself in time, and was swiftly smashed away by Rupert's recovered right fist.

"Bard!" Reginald shouted.

"Damn" Zan lowed, watching the fight from afar. "He needs help. Rokushiki or not, Bard isn't equipped enough to handle something like this!"

"He isn't?" Gretta asked, staying close to his side. Zan looked down at her, rather plainly and unassumingly, and began to explain.

"Bard's a strong guy" Zan admitted proudly "but he's still an amateur as far as pirating goes. Even if he's beaten a hundred guys before, I'm willing to bet he's never faced an opponent quite this bloodthirsty and crazed. He's still too innocent to know when lethal force is a good idea."

"Of course he is" Araly said, watching intently from the top of the stands. "Bard's always been like that. That's just how he is. But sill...I agree. We need to help. At least _I_ need to do something."

"I'm fine to fight" Zan said "so long as I don't have to move a lot."

"Then you're not fine to fight at all!" Araly argued. Zan smiled and looked away.

"CHARGE!!!" the pirates shouted form outside. The entire crew came rushing with swords and guns waving over head, a brilliant and spontaneous rush of pure bravery. "Help the captain!!!"

"**You fools again!?"** Rupert shouted. He brought his scarred right hand, fully functioning and healed, up to his broken and disgraced left arm and jammed it back into socket. Even though his wrist had been twisted fully around and the muscles had retained that same disgusting shape, his fingers all seemed to work just fine. Rupert then took his wrist and twisted it back around, only grinning and widening his eyes with excitement at the pain. This didn't shake the steadfast Buster Pirates, who continued their charge with the same incredible drive and intensity that their powerfully foolish captain fought with.

"No!" Reginald shouted. "They can't win! They won't even get close. I need to stop them!" Reginald, for all his philanthropic determination, was stopped by the thunderous clap of cannon fire. A moment later Rupert suffered from an explosion that bloomed out form his chest in a fiery plume of smoke and noise. He was thrown back and tumbled over himself straight into one of the walls of the castle. The entire structure began to shake ominously, a sign that made Reginald's heart float up with joy. Bard shook off his shock and stood up to cough in pain, then looked at the back ranks of his gathered crew.

"Good thing you guys brought me some ammo" Rez said as he reloaded his Hell Tiger cannon-sword. With the flick of his arm he snapped the barrel back and the explosive shell within was ready for fire again. With the sword rested on his shoulder and a sturdy fist at his hip, Rez entered the fight. "I thought my turn was over..." The shadow cast over his eyes by the bandana on his forehead gave him an excited, almost evil, look that hungered for more war. The face of a true Buster Pirate.

* * *

"All this reckless abandon" Gretta mused. She watched the fighting from her safe corner where all the bodies, unconscious or healing, had been gathered to keep them safe and away from the brawl. She watched on away from Araly but beside Zan on the bleachers, the new audience of the regal tournament gone so horrifically awry. "Why do they all fight so much? Was it because of me?"

"No" Zan answered. "In all honesty, Bard was going to fight if you'd asked him to or not. If you tried to make him stop he might have started fighting _you_." Gretta was appalled by his remark, though her expressionless face didn't quite show it.

"Ggggg...." Ramone growled. "He's a damn idiot. Who does crap like that on a daily basis...he's not gonna live long on tha Gran' Line...."

"Maybe" Zan said, knowing Ramone was still too weak to counter his opposition physically. Ramone just sneered up at him from his frozen state on the ground. His insects were still working hard to repair the hole in his chest, gathering up wax from the depositories inside his body and thickening the coat with a mixture of the hard rock and minerals in the ground of the garden around them. Gretta occasionally gazed down with her hands balled up in front of her mouth and her eyes wide to watch the demonic display of power that she had fawned after from afar for so long.

"...what?" Ramone shot, once catching her hot gaze. Gretta instantly shot her head back to seriously watch the unfolding fight.

"Bard's a fighter" Araly said, standing a the top of the bleachers with her silken scarf blowing in the breeze between her arms and around her back. "There's nothing he can't survive. He's got that idiotic strength that you can only get from being born under a certain star...at least that's what everyone back home said about him."

"Of course" Zan agreed, lighting up a cigarette. "He's got that certain thing about him...that destined glow. Plus, that D of his seems all too familiar to me..." As the gallery watched, some more anxious to fight than others, the pirates all moved to gather around their captain and help him up.

"Thanks guys" Bard said as he got to his feet finally, standing over most of his more normal crewmen. Bard smiled as he saw all those happy faces, all so excited to see him alright, but one face was missing. Rez was aiming his next shot already, far away from the group of his fellow pirates. Bard, as the captain, didn't want to have any of that, and jumped over to Rez's position to greet him. "Nice shot, Rez!" Bard shouted. Rez's aim was thrown off not by the surprising sound of Bard's voice but by the shock that he made when he landed. His gun barrel was thrown and aimed accidentally at the bleachers. Throats swelled up in horror.

"Grrr!" Rez growled. He swung his blade back around and slammed Bard on the head with the wide, broad blunt of the broadsword. Bard was toppled straight over and his head was slammed through the weak cobblestone ground. Bard pushed himself back up and met the scowling, growling face of Rez half-way with his own humble, confused expression. "You jackass! I could have killed someone if I pull the trigger!"

"That hurt, man!" Bard whined. Then his eyes shot open. Rez recoiled, knowing some half-wit idea had formed in his head. "Hey!" Bard said in his regular, excited voice. "Give me your sword!"

"Screw you!" Rez quickly snapped. "This thing is a piece of art, a technological wonder of equipment. If I wanted to break it I'd just heave it into the sea, and even then I'd have to hope it sank into a Sea King's mouth!"

"I need it!" Bard said. "If I can't hurt him with my regular kicks and Rankyakuu, then an actual blade should work if I can get enough speed behind it!"

"Can you even use a sword?" Rez asked. Bard stayed silent, then straightened up and nervously smiled off in another direction.

"Using a sword" Bard began "and throwing a punch both operate on the same principals of kinetic rotation and...momentum...thingies."

"Just don't get in my way" Rez said as he drew his blade over his head for another helm-breaker cleaving cannon shot. "If a single part of my trajectory is off the whole shot will be wasted."

"Then let me hold him in place!" Bard said. "I can stun him long enough for you to get a shot in, no matter what distance!" Rez actually gave that a moment of thought. He looked at Bard under his folded bandana and lowered his sword to his front, a more defensive pose.

"Lead the way" Rez said. "The closer I am the easier the shot will be."

"Leave it to me!" Bard said, pounding his chest with a fist. He began running with Rez keeping up behind while the rest of the crew followed even further behind for support.

"Can we even fight with them?" one pirate asked.

"Of course we can!" a raucous, burly pirate shouted. "We're all part of the same crew! We should all fight together no matter what!"

"Still" Marco began, "against an enemy like that...I don't think we'll be much help." While all these parties moved into formation, as first observed by Bard, the battle had somehow moved indoors. The castle that seemed to sway to the soft tune of its own destruction in the wind was the new battlefield for these freedom-fighters inciting such an exciting anarchy. Meanwhile, back at the corner where so many fighers had been silenced and forced out of the combat, one got up to move. Dressed in her elegant short gown, Gretta took one of Zan's knives from the rear of his belt and cut herself a shorter skirt. Then she ascended the steps to take the bow and arrow she had brought with her to arm herself.

"You're going to fight?" Araly asked. "Against your own father!?" Gretta didn't indulge her with an answer. She returned Zan's knife, folding it into his hand and blushing, then started running off on her own. Araly had the angered nerve worked up to chase her but was stopped by Zan, who held her as she struggled to pursue. "Let go of me! I hate brats like her! Evil or not, monster or not, she shouldn't be so glad to watch her father die! It isn't right!"

"Relax, Araly" Zan, the assassin, said. "She's not a little girl. I can tell by her eyes. She knows what she has to do...trust her." Araly was still unsure but she ceased her struggle. Ramone stared up at the display of trust and then looked over to the still unconscious Colleen. He felt ashamed of himself and sighed.

_Trust...eh...?_

However, there was one, even in conditions like these, that went against that natural order of fear and marched uphill, hunched over himself and nearly fallen as he stood and walked step by step through the passing crowd. Emily was caught in the torrential rush against her will, carried back to the village in the feeble arms of those she lived near who cared for her.

"Hark!" Emily shouted. "What unconscionable madness! Must we all run as so? Can we not control ourselves!?"

"F'ward!" a random man shouted in panic.

"We must make haste!" a woman called.

'Such animosity!' 'Such frightening circumstances!' 'What great plague hath befallen us!?' The crowd continued throwing their terror verbally into the air, praying someone could catch it and make sense of the puzzles they all made. Emily looked about the crowd in her startled state and saw the slowly moving man ascending the slant that led up to that gory war. She pushed her way through the crowd, attempting to make her way over to him, but was pushed ever further downward to the grove of tiny, humble homes.

Suddenly, Emily was tripped and felt the trampling feet of all her neighbors and friends as they ran in a panic over her. She covered her head and curled up as best she could to try and withstand that terrible current of pressure, all those heels and boots weakly stomping on her as they carried those frail bodies, but in the end only the life-long defeatism clouded her mind. The feelings she was raised with, the ones even her parents had found when they came to this terrible island, and Emily gave in to them, accepting her ultimate defeat at the hands and feet of those she knew...

But just as she had given up she was saved. She was picked up and then turned over to her back so she could breathe properly, then her savior turned and continued his ascent. Emily struggled to free herself from the paralytic pain, but shou could not. She was frozen there in the sun, waiting for a cloud to come over and cover her with the cool shade she wanted.

_Please, dear God_ she prayed, _please send me help. I wish not to retreat like the rest of them...I don't want to be safe anymore. Safety has been my whole life, always trying to protect myself from the evils of the world out there, but now I see that those who carry such strange burdens and names placed by only I and my fellow villagers that they are not as I had thought. They were pirates who killed my parents...but now it seems that pirates are those who shall save us. Please, send help, carry me somehow so that I may see Bard away in his own safety, so that I may see his victory!_

"It's a bit hot out today" a kind and familiar male's voice said. "Emily...you shouldn't be out working so much on such a hot day..." Emily recognized it instantly, and her mind trailed back to that brief memory of her brother, standing in the doorway, watching her pull weeds from their meager front porch where she kept her terracotta pots of weak, limp spices.

"_Oh, I know"_ _Emily replied, "but it's ever such a gorgeous day...I can't help but want to work." Her brother came up and picked her up by the arm, making sure the guards didn't see from the corner of his eye. They stayed still and an arm's length until that patrol passed, unwatching as always._

"_If they" he began "see even a hint of strength in you it will be just like Ms. Emilia from down the road. They will take you to the castle and put you to work. You must, I beg of you, restrain yourself when it comes to work."_

"_I am sorry brother" Emily said._

"_Don't be" Jed replied. "You, we all, should be very proud of our hidden strength...but sadly...the King is not. He only wants the strong for his army...so they may die."_

"_It can't be that shallow" Emily argued._

"_It is" Jed said. "We both know it...now, please, come inside before you catch a deadly dose of the sun. It's curiously bright out today." Jed went inside. After much pondering over the matter, so did she. Her spices would have to die prematurely again this year, both from the salty earth she planted them in and the lack of loving work they regularly received._

That was the same caring face that she woke up to now. Jed was carrying her in his weak arms as he carried himself up the hill to the castle grounds. He knew that's where _he_ was, and he wasn't going to lie injured in bed and let _him_ leave. His face was shrouded with the injured shadow of his brow, the old fatigue from his encounter with _that demon_ still lingered about him. Emily gave him one last stare, a proud and loving one, as she faded from consciousness once more. The fighting continued in that castle on high, a tremor of power forming in the sky...

* * *

The stampede, the deluge, of villagers returning to their homes in a frightened panic continued to fill that narrow, body-bordered pathway down the plateau. The adrenaline from seeing their king, the man whose shadow they stayed in for decades with that soft feeling of perfect protection, was revealed to them in his true form at last. A monster driven by nothing but the ego and the drive for the infinite power he had always wanted. A beast that had no friends or foes but drove to be the only one left. So they ran. It's all they could do for now.


	87. The One Day Coup pt3

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

"**KURRRUUUU!!!"** In the brilliant flashing glare of combat, Reginald let out his terrible roar that echoed from the castle walls and filled the room with his war-cry. Rupert was still in fighting condition. The attacks that had been made to cripple him were negated and undone by his supreme healing abilities. The drugs he injected to give himself the unholy edge were still kicking his body beyond any natural limits and driving him beyond the border of humanity. Slowly his brain was eroding at the coursing effects of the toxins and his reason was lost.

He became a monster of fighting, a slave to his huge, mighty fists that swung in response only to the world moving.

"**MO!!!**" Rupert shouted, announcing that he was throwing a punch. Despite his size the fist he threw shot through the air with incredible speed, parting the very space around it and creating a tunnel of spiraling air that exploded out from his huge, thick arm. Reginald dodged it with a long jump to the side, his halberd staff across his back keeping his arms straight. "**HO!!!**" Rupert then shouted, announcing a stomp. Reginald jumped up as the foot connected with the floor, cracking the stones and shattering the air powerfully. Reginald flew up with his halberd ready to stab, aiming for Rupert's thick neck. He made a thrust and connected, but the muscles were so dense that all of his effort only resulted in a shallow little gash.

"Damn!" Reginald exclaimed. He reeled himself in, kicked off of Rupert's face and flipped away to avoid the monster's thrashing arm. "I can't attack him. He's too fast, to solid. He's too powerful! I need him to end himself while his mind is dulled by the drugs!" Reginald, to that effect, began a strategic retreat, knowing Rupert would follow. After watching Reginald retreat, the world blurred by hazy clouds of motion surrounding static objects of the castle such as its walls and columns, Rupert began making his own high-speed, barreling charge. His pumping arms blew apart the walls that they touched, making a wide pathway of destruction for Bard and his crew to follow.

"Come on!" Bard called to his crew behind. He still had Rez's sword slung over his shoulder and clutched in his hand with a limp wrist. "We can't kick his ass if we can't keep up with him! Let's move! MOVE!!!"

"Easy for you to say" Rez said, huffing heavily as he stayed at the head of the crew. "You're some kind of freak who doesn't need to breathe!" Rez kept running despite his own protests, feeling it necessary to watch how Bard would end up using his weapon and greatest treasure. "You better make sure that thing doesn't break, you moron. It's worth more to me than your life!"

"It's a great weapon" Marco said, running just behind Rez, "but is it honestly worth all that much to you?" Rez stayed silent. Marco could sense him tensing up, filling up with adamant drive and power, al of which exploded into a marvelous second wind that allowed Rez to sprint forward and catch up with Bard just as they entered the ruined hall where Rupert and Reginald had just fought. The sounds of battle were nearby, off in another room past a corridor with a caved-in wall that Rupert had just charged through.

"Alright Bard" Rez said, attempting to instruct him into the appropriate use of his wonderful sword. "My weapon could probably clear away that debris and blast us open a path into the next room, but you need to aim carefully. We only have two cannonballs with us right now, and if we waste one we can't get it back."

"It's alright" Bard said, tapping the sword on his shoulder, effortlessly lifting it up and down with only one small group of muscles in his arm. "I'll just cut the debris and not have to use the bullet."

"Are you dim!?" Rez exclaimed. "That'd take some kind of extreme skill to cut through solid stone and brick with a sword! It isn't that sharp, wonder-boy!"

"Alright then" Bard said, taking the sword tip and driving it down into the floor in front of him. He grinned and cracked his knuckles with an eager, boyish laughter. "I'll just smash open my own path." Bard made a dash for the wall, his fist drawn back and his face shining with a brilliant, combatant youth. He started up a roar from the pit of his body as he ran and prepared for a driving, flying fist to the rubble wall. "Baaaaard..." he began, charging himself up for a trademark-style punch. He kicked off the ground, flew up to the middle of the pile, spun around and kicked the wall down with a shout of "Rankyakuu!!!"

"..." Rez glared. He drew his sword abruptly out of the floor and sheathed it behind his back, allowing himself to safely carry it until Bard remembered that he wanted it again. Bard, meanwhile, let the dust from the debris roll off of him like a cape onto the floor where it settled and flashed a mighty thumb-up with a victorious grin.

"Oh yeah!" Bard shouted. "That wall didn't know what hit it!" He looked around, finding himself in an extravagantly huge ballroom with a giant balcony jutting out two-stories above the ground. Reginald and Rupert fought in the middle of the room, with monster king throwing his punches to scrape at the marble floor where Reginald expertly dodged and rolled away, using his pole-arm to vault away and increase his jump height. Once he landed after one of Rupert's flurries he charged in, hoping to land a blow with his halberd in both hands over his head, his body guiding the blade with a whipping turn into Rupert's side. The monster, however, had become smart once more, and leaped up by pushing the ground with its huge hands to avoid the blow and leave Reginald spinning away.

"Damn him!" Reginald growled as he hopped away. Bard dashed in to assist and made an explosive Geppou leap right at Reginald's side. "Bard, no! He's too dangerous to fight in the air!" Bard ignored his warning and continued to advance in a straight line. Just before entering Rupert's range, Bard sprang away off the air, leaving Rupert to swat at the cloud of air he kicked up. Then, facing a hole in his defense, Bard set himself up and planted his feet parallel to the distant wall, preparing another straight-line charge. Rupert's manic grin only widened even more and his eyes bulged out with rage.

"**What will you do?**" Rupert asked. **"Try to punch me!? USELSS!!!"**

"Geppou!" Bard made a shorter leap, a little jump to set his legs up. The soles of his boots pointed at Rupert's face, both of his heels pressed together. "**Rankyakuu! Imperia BALLISTA!!!"** Bard drew both his legs back, pushed forward into Rupert's frozen range, and blasted both his legs forward, shooting a huge wave of piercing air-cutting energy in the form of a giant bolt. Rupert brought his arms together and received the attack at full force...

* * *

_Is it true, father_ Gretta thought as she ran, weapons in hand, legs pumping harder than ever before. _Could it really be so? Just how much of what I know is a lie...? Who were you, and who am I?_ With such thoughts stirring up in her head, Gretta had failed to watch where she was going and tripped over a body of one of the Crimson Killers. She fell flat onto her face, her arms streatched out as her weapons had slid across the floor. She looked up with her eyes rolled up to the stare at her own lids in anger. Once she got up and examined the object of her trouble she found, for the first time ever, the secret corps of able-bodied assassins that had lived along side her in protection since she was born.

"Are there yet more of these things" she asked "which have been in this world without my knowing? Is this world simply here to humor me, or am I here to humor it...?"

"Hhhhh..." the assassin breathed, startling Gretta to stand up and step away. The body she tripped over and stirred to consciousness began making a strained, breathless laugh. "What deep thoughts for such a young girl. You're only sixteen, you know. It's far too early to question your own life..." With a final cough, the body fell silent and drifted into cold death. The decades of tension had caught up with him, finally, and ended his life. Gretta knelt down and put a soft hand to the cold, metal mask the gentleman wore.

"You poor demon" she said, grabbing him and embracing him into her body. His mask slipped off of his dead head and remained in her grip as his head hit the ground again. She looked at the mask, pure, hateful red with narrow, angled eye slots and a slitted mouth opening shaped like a row of fangs, and then down at the face that wore it. A man, old and covered with dark spots and rash-like blotches, with a flat-pressed nose from the years of never removing his mask. Gretta set her sights back on the glorious, inhuman mask and removed the blood-red cowl from the back. Using the cloth from the hood she removed, she refashioned the metal-fastening mask into a much more simple on and tied it onto her own face.

"If I cannot know" Gretta began "the answers to my life, the answers to the questions that I need to know, then I shall simply destroy the questions. **I will destroy everything...**" Gretta, with her bow and arrows in hand, looked just as much like one of the mighty warrior Amazons that she was descended from, a mask of demonic red over her lovely face to resonate in harmony with her own demonic force. She became cold, emotionless, pitiless, utterly devoid of any sympathy for the devil that was her father. **"If I destroy everything, then all my answers will become clear. I will know that nothing is my true fate...**" With such pessimism in mind, Gretta continued her charge, following in the beaten path of the Buster Pirates to face her dreadful father...

Back in the ballroom, Bard had landed and was regathering his breath and energy, all of which he put into the tremendous attack that had blown yet another hole in the castle walls. His Ballista attack had sent Rupert out of the room, trough another, and through yet another wall of the castle to leave his fate as of yet unknown. The one sign that gave him some solace that his attack was successful was the few drops of blood that had flown out and gave chase to Rupert's body after the attack connected. Reginald was next to Bard, ensuring that he wasn't undefended as he regained himself.

"That was amazing, Bard" Reginald praised. "I doubt that bastard'll get up from that attack without a scratch!"

"Yeah" Bard said, panting heavily. "Thanks..."

"Hey, Bard!" Rez shouted, approaching on his own. Reginald straightened up and nodded at him in greeting. Rez nodded back and unsheathed his sword, planting the tip at Bard's feet. Bard looked up from the ground with a weary smile at Rez, who wore his own grin under the mysterious emotional veil of his bandana. "If you break it, I break you. Got it? Don't kill yourself fighting this guy."

"Got it" Bard said, making a grab for the weapon. "I'll be careful. It's just...a matter of coordination...and rotation. Simply extended-body mechanics, right?"

"Just about" Rez said with a grin. Bard smiled widely at him, leaned on his sword to get up, and drew it out to hold it against the ground with one hand and breathe standing straight up. Reginald planted the spear of his halberd in a similar manner and looked over at Bard with a paternal glare of concern.

_He's exerting himself far too much_ Reginald thought. _The strain on his body from using Rokushiki in such rapid succession is starting to grate at his stamina. I doubt he'll stay conscious long enough to do much more good if Rupert manages to find his way back...I just hope I'm wrong._ Suddenly, from the balcony, a melodious instrumental of awe-inspiring harp strings began playing. With her soft, cloud-white hands plucking away and her dainty, loving eyes closed to the harsh world around her, Gretta played a powerful melody that rang into the hearts of all the pirates and Reginald, charging them with confidence and raw emotional movement.

"Hey!" Rez shouted, less moved than the others around him, "how'd you get up there so quick!?" Gretta stopped playing for a moment and approached the edge of the balcony to address him.

"I'm just faster than you" Gretta bluntly called. "It's not my fault you're so slow. Don't be so angry at yourself."

"I AIN'T!" Rez roared with a fanged, growling mouth. "Besides, you're that princess chick, right!? What the hell ar eyou doing here?"

"I want to help" Gretta said.

"Okay!" Bard exclaimed, giving her a thumb up.

"Shut your face!" Rez demadned, slapping Bard's head back down as he continued drawing air tiredly. A distant crash in the castle was heard. The roof began to shake and the aged seals of mortar began to give way. Reginald could feel it deep in his chest. The castle was falling, slowly but surely the beast was dying. "What could you possibly do t help us, kid? This isn't some little skirmish or a part of your stupid tournament. This is an all-out war! This is live or die for us! Don't you get that!?"

"Of course I do" Gretta said. "But, I don't want you people to die. You amuse me more than my father does."

"OI!" the entire Buster crew shouted in unison. Marco spoke up for their behalf, feeling their pain. "What are we to you, toys?"

"And" Gretta added with more of a compassionate tone, "I don't want anyone to die who could answer me my questions..." With that she turned her masked face over to Reginald, who stared up at her with a long-withheld sense of hate. She was the cause of it all, all of his suffering and torment, but she didn't know that. She never wanted that. In her eyes, each time he looked, he could see the same trapped expression, the same longing for freedom and justice that each and every prisoner he had ever seen had. She was just another one locked behind iron bars, unable to run away from the prison Rupert had built... While Rez prepared to continue his argument, Reginald interrupted him with a sudden burst of laughter.

"Kururururu! Fair enough! If it's fine with Bard, it will do for me as well!" Rez jerked his neck in his direction and gave him a deep snarling glare.

"Are you all idiots...?" Rez asked with a haunting tone. "She could just be trying to get us to lower our guard, ever think about that you dumb-ass!?"

"AARRRRGGHH!!!" The Buster Pirates shouted with fists thrust up into the air. "Fight with us, White-haired Princess!" Gretta's smile went on unseen beneath her mask, but the sharp duelist eyes of Rez were able to pick up on the glistening tears that formed in her eyes. He decided not to argue any further and simple stood between Bard and Reginald, his gunblades drawn and twirling as all three faced the hole in the wall, waiting for the monster to reemerge with a bloody grin on its face...

* * *

Outside, at the bleachers still, Araly impatiently waited for the results of the battle to be made clear to her. The enormous castle had already shaken once, a grim sign if anything else, that the battle was going on with an unseen and unmatched intensity compared to the short bursts of fighting she had already observed. She waited with her hands clasped together worriedly, her eyes fighting back tears, and the golden alchemy paint on her back glowing in response to her distress to calm her down.

"Please let him be alright..." she prayed, bringing her clasped hands up to her mouth so she could smother her shaky breaths with something. Zan looked back at her from his lounging seat below and grinned. Then he turned back down to the waking Ramone and kept a close eye on his actions amidst the bodies of those he had learned to hate so much so quickly. His chest was closed now and his bugs were all returned inside his body, but he still looked a bit too wound up for safety.

"Ggggg....." Ramone growled. "You don't have'ta watch me, aright?"

"Even so" Zan began, tapping his cigarette, "I wouldn't want you performing one of your miracle escapes without me seeing it. That'd just be miserable for me to live with, missing the escape act of the **Killer Ghost**, Ramone Cervantes."

"Ggggg...." Ramone growled. "Don't bring attention to that idiotic name of mine. There was nothing miraculous or fateful about that escape. I simply bade my time and carried myself out with my own strength and planning."

"No luck at all?" Zan remarked in disbelief. "So, eating the devil fruit was planned?"

"It was expected" Ramone admitted.

"Getting your head cut off?" Zan asked. "How did training help with that?"

"I knew I could survive" Ramone explained. "As soon as I could use my powers I used them, away from prying eyes, and assessed the limits of my strengths on my own. My plan was limited only by the knowledge of my powers that I could amass in such a short time."

"Nothing fortunate about your escape at all?" Zan asked, still prying to get him to admit against his stubborn standing. "You know no one has ever and _will _never escape from the Gaol. That's what they said the day you slipped through their fingers. I'm in the know about this crap, pal. I'm an assassin working for Dragon right now."

"_The_ Dragon?" Ramone asked. "Why're you here?"

"To train" Zan said. He looked away and smiled. "I guess a lot depends on training, including **fate.**" Ramone was getting irked. The constant talk about his past was provoking unwanted memories of the Gaol, that terrible place of endless torture, Impel Down. He was successfully distracted, however, by the feminine stirring of one of the nearby bodies. It was Colleen, shaking her head lightly in her sleep, groaning to the imaginary pain of her dreams.

"Captain..." she moaned. "...don't die..." Ramone looked at her and shut his eyes in shame. He couldn't help but feel regret as his mind drifted back to the memories of his initial departure as the 'Ghost Killer' Ramone Cervantes. The sadness on Colleen's face, on his entire crew's face, as he sacrificed himself...

* * *

"Don't do it, captain!!!" the crew called desperately. Ramone stood at the bow of their sinking ship, only half of the legacy that made them such a driving, destructive force so early on in their life on the Grand Line. Already notorious and infamous to the Marines from his home in the South Blue, Ramone had challenged a battle ship with the unwavering support of his crew behind him. They had lost the battle, but to Ramone the war was only just beginning. Colleen, two years younger but no less in love with the dark, stoic man, was putting up the greatest struggle to remain on the retreating lifeboats.

"Just leave, captain!" she called. "Don't die for us! Please, don't die!!!" Ramone slowly glanced back at his crew, his eyes full of hatred and murder, and smiled.

"Gggggg!" he growled in laughter. "You sound like you're worried. They can't kill me! Not if they're all dead they can't!" Almost at that instant, the coincidental nature of the universe shifted against him and the rest of the ship was blown apart by the firepower of the battleship. Colleen sank to her knees in waves of screams and tears while the crew watched on in horror as the cannons aimed their way.

"Prepare to fire" the commanding deck-officer ordered. "Issue them a warning to surrender before launching fire. We can still take them alive if they comply."

"Shut up" Ramone ordered. With a single touch the man was silence. He shuddered briefly before dying, his mouth and throat coated and clogged with blood and his spine tapped. Ramone, with his instant-kill martial art of Shinkei Haretsu Ken had successfully infiltrated the ship by riding the explosions through the air and onto the deck. The Marines turned with a shock to see him, each one dying soon after with only a single touch from the deadly Ghost-Killer.

"Sir!" A Marine soldier announced, bursting into the enclosed bridge of the ship. "Ramone Cervantes the Ghost Killer is on the ship, killing everyone!"

"I can see that!" the jaded captain shouted. "Shoot him to death! We wouldn't even _want_ him alive if we could take him!"

"Captain!" a Den Den Mushi called with an urgent report. It was an executive officer from higher up, calling in from headquarters regarding the apprehension of the Ghost Killer pirates. "HQ just gave us a new issue. No matter what, they want Ramone Cervantes **alive.** The crew is to be captured and killed if they retaliate." The Captain grabbed the transmitter and nearly crushed it in his grip. He glanced down at the deck where Ramone, standing among a field of bodies, glared up with an evil grin and outstretched arms, awaiting a challenge.

"Understood" the captain growled. "Ramone Cervantes will be captured alive...if we all have to die trying..." He slammed the phone back into the receiver and stormed out onto the deck...


	88. Memories of Hell

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The blood finally left his arms after being suspended above his head for so long. The tragedy of his situation finally sank in. After such a fleetingly short time on the high seas, Ramone was caught. Cornered, captured, beaten and now imprisoned in the worst possible place imaginable. At least, until his torture moved him to the lower floors. Thank the stars he was born under, those cursed lights, they only kept him at the second level for now. Still it was insulting. A man with so many lives left to float on the waves and sink to the depths only held at the second level of Impel Down. Ramone sometimes, when the other prisoners conversed above the hissings of the mad beasts all over the floor, wished he was down on the third floor. It was rare, but that fame had passed him by and his chances were all gone.

"Ggggg...." Ramone growled. The beasts in the darkness growled back with hissing maws and glowing, white eyes. One moved forward, its muscular paw stomping on the ground and its claws raking at the stone tile. Ramone looked up under his brow stained with dried blood from his previous injuries and tortures. His glare pierced the darkness like a bullet and his eyes flashed gravely. The beast blinked and waveringly retreated its previous step. Ramone turned his head back to the floor and tried to muster up a grin...

_Damn_ he thought. _It's gotten so bad that I can't physically smile anymore...those sick bastards..._ Hell began for Ramone. His shame, grief, tormenting lamentation weighed on his so heavily that he couldn't even move his head up anymore. It was stuck on the floor just as his mouth was paralyzed into a permanent frowning scowl.

His time there, brief as it was, scarred him for life. When the beasts were feeling particularly charismatic they would scratch and slash and bite at him, sinking their fangs into his flesh without tearing it away, leaving him with bleeding wounds that the guards would look past to torment him by throwing his food just out of his reach. His arms were bound and his feet were covered with the musty grime of the floor, unsuitable to pick up and handle food properly. His only choice was to let the beasts eat it when they pleased, allowing the food to be torn and thrown and slathered all over the place in the hopes that it would land close by or on his face.

There were times when the guards stationed at the monitor room had thought of interfering with his torture. Once he seemed to kill a beast with a simple press into its throat as it was gnawing on his shoulder. He never gave up on the hope of escaping, it seemed, for once that beast died it took a whole week for the other monsters to shake off the trauma and he was left alone to heal himself. The guards didn't interfere, however, due to the return of the beasts who only clawed and bit at him away from his hands. Ramone returned to his demoralized and depressed state thereafter.

It seemed, after all his life of training and preparation, mastering a seemingly impossible martial art from his homeland and becoming a nefarious pirate, even on the Grand Line, Ramone's life was lost in this dank, dark dungeon. Ramone abandoned all his hopes for fulfilling his dreams, then forgot them just the same. He was a shell of a man who only survived in defiance with his own creator and destroyer, a man too stubborn to simply sit back and die. Seeing him thoroughly demoralized like that, the Vice-Chief Warden had him placed in a regular cell. His torture was withheld so long as he didn't act up inappropriately.

That's when fate came into Ramone's life. However, despite how luck had saved his life, Ramone didn't and still continues not to acknowledge it as a force in his life. The stubbornness for survival he had learned in that monster pit stuck with him, made itself an unwanted part of him...

"Hey new guy!" an inmate shouted. Ramone barely lifted his head from its slump. The inmate, greedily munching away at his meal, tossed him a piece of food that bounced from his head and next to his lap. "Eat up!" The inmates started chuckling and a large, chestnut-shaped one leaned over with a big smile across his thick lips.

"If you're gonna survive in Hell" he said "you'll need to eat once in a while!"

"Hey newbie!" another inmate began, "Cheer up! It's only Hell!" Their delight in Ramone's utter lethargy for living made him secretly livid. He longed to work up that despicable growl of his and frighten them off, just as he could the turgid beasts that made pacing outside the cage bars and swipes to scare the prisoners away, but the deep depression of his removal from life had left him mute. He took the food anyway, a tiny piece of red fruit, no bigger than a walnut, and ate it slowly. It tasted disgusting. Like wax made form some detestable insect. He coughed out when he swallowed the thing and smacked his lips with his tongue. The waxy texture left him thirsty.

"Want some water?" the chestnut-man asked, holding up a beaten cup. He pitched the cup hard and hit Ramone in the head. All the inmates recoiled back in fear, all the way to the other side of the cage. They quivered audibly in fear. All of the beasts in the hall outside shrank away from the cage and stared in its direction. A rare little common fly that had long ago infiltrated the Gaol to breed flew down and swept into the cage, landing on Ramone's cheek. It crawled up into the **hole the cup had opened, flaky and crumbling slowly,** and vanished into Ramone's open skull. Ramone raised his head and straightened his back slowly. His very skin began peeling and cracking off like a dried-up wasp nest breaking apart in a sharp wind. He felt an odd sense of power and parted his lips slightly. The fly crawled out and flew from his mouth as he let out his deepest, most fierce growl he had ever used.

"**Ggggggg.......**" The inmates, mysteriously, were found beaten and bloodied the next morning. The cell door was open as well, but no escape was attempted. The beasts had simply gone in, mauled a few prisoners, and left Ramone to sleep in his own corner the whole night long...the first in a long line of mysteries centered around the nefarious demon pirate, the 'Ghost Killer' Cervantes.

* * *

"Hannyabal, sir!" a guard shouted in report. The large-gutted, tall, demonic-looking Vice Warden sat on a stone bench twiddling his thumbs and staring straight forward in a day-dreamy daze.

"I wonder" Hannyabal began, "just how long I must wait for that useless warden to die..."

"Uh...sir?" the guard said, listening in on his mumblings accidentally. Hannyabal snapped to attention and stood up stuttering.

"You heard nothing, alright!?" Hannyabal demanded. He took his pitchfork from the wall and stabbed it to the stone ground. "Now then, what is it?" The guard took a clipboard and folded up a piece of paper he had attached.

"One of the inmates on Level 2" the guard began, "was found the previous morning with his other cellmates beaten and torn up by the Manticores. He, however, remained completely harmless and was left in the cell alone after the guards took the injured bodies out and transported them to the infirmary."

"So?" Hannyabal asked.

"Well sir" the guard began, "we suspect some fowl play is about. That man is Ramone 'Ghost Killer' Cervantes." Hannyabal was picking his nose.

"Just one of a myriad of upstart pirates" Hannyabal said, flicking his booger away. "You want my decision on such a minor manner? Are you serious? Can't you just handle his judgement on your own!?"

"Well" the guard said, already turning slowly around, "I suppose I could go and ask the Warden himself...but when he finds out that you douldn't even handle such a minor problem on your own..." A lightning strike to Hannyabal's ego, a piercing stab through his chest.

"He would say that!" the Vice-Warden blared. "That bastard just _would_ say that about me! He just knows I'm next in line for his title! He'd do anything to see that I don't get it, the bastard! **ARRRRGH!!**" Hiding his laughter, the guard turned around with a withheld grin.

"Your orders, then?" the guard asked. Hannyabal slammed his spear once more against the stone floor and held up a turned-down thumb.

"**Immediate execution!**" Hannyabal ordered.

"Isn't that extreme!?" the guard protested.

"It's what a first-class warden would do" Hannyabal said. "That man's already proven himself to be a dangerous criminal, and I heard that he killed one of the manticores during his torture. He's not only endangered the other prisoners with his rampant penchant for murder, but he's already compromised the manticore pack of the second level! Such intolerance cannot be tolerated!"

"Very well" the guard said, more complacent. "I will make the arrangements. How should we go about it?" Hannyabal cupped his broad, jutting chin for a moment and looked up to make his brain think harder. Suddenly, with the passion of a too-be Warden, Hannyabal decided with a sadistic, very incremental upturning of his mouth in a smile.

"We shall take him outside the Gaol" he began "and place him under a guillotine! The last thing he will see will be the unreachable ocean, a final blow that will set all the other prisoners in place!"

"Very well, sir" the guard said, walking out with a salute. As he closed the door behind him he couldn't help but smile and press his fingers into his tired eyes. "It's almost _too easy!_" the guard quietly exclaimed...

A troop of Gaolers assisted by Blugori to keep the manticores at bay was dispatched to retrieve Ramone. He was alone in his cell, eating a small ration of bread and rotten fruits, insects crawling all around him. Such small, tame and minor creatures scurried over him at odd occasions. The Gaolers with sharp eyes and minds wondered how in hell they reached him, but their job preceded wonderment. Ramone was taken away, up through the levels to the top floor, and heavily escorted outside. The bright sun stung his eyes. He was forced to close them and keep from seeing the sun at long last. He didn't want them open anyway. He simply wished the darkness would persist forever so the sadness of his past wouldn't come flooding back to him.

Then he heard it, the grand and infinite ocean clashing softly with the sides of the Gaol at the sea's level. Waves built up from the constant, stirring movement of Sea Kings down below kept on splashing against the sides of the artificial harbor. He remembered the sounds of waves that hit against the sides of his own ship. He remembered groaning and griping about the constant rocking and noise those waves created and when one would crest upon his deck he would roar curses into the sea to try and tame it. His rage would never subside and his crew would chuckle behind his back, thinking he couldn't hear them, but in the end he smiled over his antics as well. Ramone was stopped and was forced to look up by the hand of a Gaoler. He opened his eyes and stared up to the sky. He hadn't seen anything so blue in what felt like years.

He actually began to cry...

* * *

Down in some unknown darkness the guard from before liberally applied his favorite color of lipstick and mascara to his eyes. He had taken down his formal uniform to a much more skimpy, tight-fitting type of garb made from glistening, pink leather and stranger orange furs that draped over his shoulders and down his fishnet-gilded legs to his spiked heels. He grinned into the mirror, smooched, and exited into the rowdy, raucous scene of the Newkama Land headquarters on level 5.5. With his undercover mission over he went to the center of the room where a beastly looking man with an enormous head sat conversion with a group of cross-dressers.

"Sir Emperio Ivankov" the man said, clicking his heels and saluting his manicured hand. "I am here to give you my report!" The huge head turned around and looked down through one giant, winking eye at the overly formal man.

"Vat's vith the formality, hnnn?" Ivankov, the King of Drag Queens, asked through his huge lips. "Now that I remember, you used to be a woman, yes? Perhaps too many testosterone hormones have vorked their vay into your system. I vill need to make a slight change..." Emperio raised up his huge arm, flexed claws out of his fingers and activated his graciously-given Devil Fruit ability over hormones. With a sudden stab Emperio charged the guard's body with female hormones and, in a matter of seconds, the man's body was changed to fit its suit with a particularly announced feminine curve.

"Thank you, Iva" the woman now said with a dainty, curtsey. Her hair cascaded over her left eye and barely stayed floating above her right eye. "I have completed my mission."

"Ah!" the giant-faced man moaned. "So, that 'Ghost Killer' boy is free, yes?"

"Well...not quite yet" the woman said hesitantly. "I did as was instructed, however. The rest is up to him."

"Well then" Ivankov said, leaning back and creaking his chair and looking up with a satisfied grin. "I suppose we vill just have to vait...that boy will stir up some trouble yet, just you see!" All that faith was set aside for the single moment that took place in the bright day sun far above.

Ramone's head was set into the vice of a guillotine rack with the razor sharp blade poised high over his neck, waiting to end his life and let roll his wretched face. So many memories, all returning in this instant, all his years of piracy and his experience, lost utterly to the mischance of fate that the heavens delivered to him. All his life for naught...so thought the guards. The Gaolers, unused to the bright sun as well from nearly endless days working down in the darkness of the Gaol, went about to hurry the execution with an utter disregard for the life they held in their hands.

"Damn it's bright out!" one Gaoler shouted. "It's so damn bright I can barely see!"

"What's worse" another Gaoler added "is we can't get out of these damn outfits for once. And it's windless here on the Calm Belt, so there's no breeze to cool us down."

"No clouds either" a particularly whiny Gaoler added. "Why can't we just cut off his arms and chuck him in the sea, already? It was murder getting that damn guillotine out here by ourselves!"

"Why even come out here?" another Gaoler demanded. "Why not just kill him inside!?"

"Hannyabal's orders" the other Gaoler said with a sigh and a shrug. "He threatened to report us to Magellen for deriliction of duty if we didn't do it exactly as he instructed."

"Speaking of which..." began the head Gaoler of the group, who held the fatal trap at hair-pin tension. He stepped over, keeping a hand on the lever that would release the grip of the rope, and grabbed Ramone by the chin, forcing him to stretch his neck and look up. Ramone's neck began to flake at the skin... "Take one last look, killer boy!" Ramone took a careful glance from side to side to side, drawing out invisible plans before his head was thrown back down, nearly snapping off from its own, brittle construction. The insects gathered within Ramone did their best to stay silent and unseen, all flies and beetles and other miscreant vermin who would ultimately aide in Ramone's perfect escape.

"Men, ready!" the head Gaoler shouted. The others ran into a straight line, spear tips held up to the sky. He took the lever in hand and grinned. "Farewell, Ramone Cervantes!" With one swift thrust of the lever the blade dropped down with a stinging metal song as it sliced through the air and then snapped back into the set position witout a single obstacle in its way. Ramone's body fell with a soft thud to the ground and his head followed soon after, simply rolling until it hit its own side and then stopping to gaze ahead with unrivaled apathy into the cold blue sky.

"Alright" the head Gaoler said, wiping his sweaty brow. "Let's get the hell back inside...Hell."

"I don't wanna!" a Gaoler whined.

"I was just starting to like it out here" another complained. "At least it's cooler then the Inferno or the Sand torture. I can't stand being down there, even if I get to drink!"

"My water always boils and evaporated before I can drink it" another Gaoler complained. "They don't let us live enough down there."

"Oh well" the head said once more. "It's Hell alright. Pity that poor bastard for getting to leave already!" Ramone heard them and smiled. His grin broke apart the flaky skin on his hive-like face and began to crumble apart, one flake of skin at a time. The insects from inside his body flew out in a black, buzzing cloud and picked up his head and body, carrying them out into the harbor where a ship was setting out to sea already. One of the Gaolers, an unfortunate soul, took one last look back at the blazing sun and saw the enigmatic shadows move in such terrible ways. His eyes, deceived him, he thought, for he swore the corpse of the Ghost Killer was flying off to sea while the head looked back at him and growled...

* * *

All too soon had his story ended when in reality it had just begun. After successfully running a Marine Battleship ashore a distant South Blue island across the Calm Belt, Ramone departed for land in the stolen garb of a Marine captain he had slaughtered to gain possession of the ship. The rest of the crew was gone as well, all dumped to the sea so his bugs wouldn't abandon him. They were his crew for the time he was out at sea. Now he was home, a lawless port of refugees, bandits and worst of all mercenaries all waiting for a chance to go somewhere new and fight someone strong. Among these ne'er-do-wells was a beautiful young girl sporting elegant fashion stolen from some other port by a band of woman-hungry men. She modeled for them apathetically, blushing against her own knowledge.

"Yeah baby!" a man hooted.

"Turn around!" another pleaded. She did so, turning and arching her back, stretching her leg straight out and brushing her lovely blonde hair up from behind. She received many hoots of acknowledgment for this, none of it aimed at her bandage-wrapped arm that the silken garments hung so precariously to. "Work it!"

'You got it, babe!' 'Puff out yer chest!' 'Work those clothes!' 'Shake it, cutie!' Such were the disgusting cries from the crowd she aimed to please so she could keep what little items of value she had in her life. Her eyes remained distant and haunting, as if staring at some nostalgic cloud off in the sky.

"Hey baby!" a particularly ugly, beefy man said as he leaned up close to her. "You look good in dem rags!" His breath smelled like salted vinegar-soaked bile. She tried to shy away, but his huge arm wrapped around her and drew her in uncomfortably close while he took in a deep whiff of her scent. "I bet you look better without dem, dough!" The rest of the nefarious gentlemen around her shouted encouragements. The man got a firm grip on her right shoulder but she still pulled away and ran. He came out of it with a torn strand of her clothes and the whole of her bandages. A sudden hush fell over the men who watched the girl retreat into a corner with her **blistered, burned and disfigured right arm** in plain sight.

"What..." one began, breaking the tension, "what the hell's up with that arm!?"

"What are you?" another shouted. "Some kind of freak!?"

"I bet she's sick!" another added. The girl, Colleen, fell to her knees and buried her face into the palm of her terrible hand, only inciting more disgusted clamor from her crowd.

_Don't tease me_ she pleaded silently. _Please, it's not my fault...it's not my fault!_ She was suddenly struck with pain. The same overly flirtatious pirate grabbed her and lifted her up by the arm, apparently undaunted by it. "P...put me down...please" Colleen shyly asked.

"Naw" the pirate said. "Your face is still pretty...and I bet you don't got any burns anywhere else!" This stirred the pirates back into their perverted frenzy and only made Colleen a bit more angry. Therefore, she retaliated with a stern kick to the man's jutting jaw. He was still smiling, apparently unaffected by her attack which the other pirates only laughed at. Then they began to move in while the silent and huge man continued to hold her up.

"Don't be too aggressive" a pirate with demented eyes and a drawn dagger said. "We like our girls nice and submissive!"

"I don't mind a fighter!" another shouted, holding an ax. "It makes things more fun! HEHEHE!!!" The man holding Colleen suddenly snorted out a huge amount of blood and mucus that covered his fuzzy upper and lower lips. His eyes slowly drifted open as his jaw slowly gaped wider until it was fully down and his eyes fully white. Then, with slight slivers of blood drifting out from his mouth, the pirate fell forward and let Colleen go. All eyes went bulging from the pirate's body up to Colleen's leg. She looked about, feeling their accusatory gazes, and began shaking her head in denial.

"No, no!" she demanded. "It wasn't me, I swear! I only kicked him! He couldn't be dead from just that!"

"**GGGGGGGGG"** That familiar, debilitating roar. It froze all the pirates in place but sent Colleen's heart fluttering up into her throat. Perhaps it too was a fear, but what followed was rapturous happiness. Ramone Cervantes, a man pronounced legally dead, stood in the doorway with a living cloud buzzing at the brim of his tattered, bloodied coat. On his head a wide-brimmed hat, green as the sea with a band of black around the top, and under that had in the shadow that clouded his face pierced two white eyes. "**You dirty bastards..."** he began, **"I'll kill you all!**"

"...Captain!" Colleen finally mustered up. Ramone's eyes turned to her and the shadow left his face. There was nothing there, nothing she remembered. The confidence, the daring drive, the handsome defiance, the caring creases of his brow; all that Hell had left him was a mean mask to wear, a waxy replica of the face she had fallen in love with. Now, with much less enthusiasm and much more horror, Colleen fell to her knees and held her hands to her face. "...captain..."

"Kill him!" a pirate shouted. All swords turned to Ramone, who held up his hand and summoned up his legion of demonic minions. The Ghost Killer was gone now, a Killer Ghost stepping into its place. The aptly renamed, mysterious pirate who stole the name of another set to the seas in a yet again stolen pirate ship with a crew of over a hundred. They called themselves the Ghost Killers and sailed under the same flag as deceased pirate Ramone Cervantes. Only now the only known name of their enigmatic captain was his title as given by his devil fruit, the Hive Hive Fruit.

**The Lord of the Flies.** Ramone Cervantes always smiled at that name and killed whoever would say it, reminding them as they died that he was 'the Ghost Killer himself'...


	89. The One Day Coup pt4

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The bricks continued to fall from the hole in the wall as the pirates waited on strained, bated breath for their monstrous foe to come charging in once more. Bard felt the first twinge that sent a chilling reaction down his spine. As he drew the sword out of the stone and bore it across his wide shoulder the rest of his crew took notice of the coming danger and prepared themselves. Gretta took the hint on her own instinct and took out an arrow to draw back into her bow. Reginald's warrior senses felt the panicked shock of danger coming from a set of sealed doors that hadn't yet been busted or opened.

"Bard" he whispered, stepping away from and facing towards those doors. Bard turned his head and switched hands of his sword, taking a deep step toward the doors Reginald motioned at.

"Yeah" Bard said. "There..." Rez turned around as well, spinning his gunblades around his fingers, twirling them up and down from his hip to his chest, sheathing and unsheathing them over and over.

"Feeling ready, captain?" Rez asked. Bard grinned and gave a deep breath out.

"HHHYeaaaaahh!!!" Bard growled. His personality had shifted, however minor, and Rez caught it with a glance. The enemy was inbound now, however, and that took the priority of his attention. The Buster Pirates all armed themselves and steeled their nerves for the monster that would erupt from those doors. Gretta followed the action through the holes in her mask, making careful notice of all the objects in the ballroom and their distance from her and the others down below. In a sense her inner Amazon Lily Warrior had awoken and in the throes of combat she found an enlightened sense of awareness. Even the most minute of details rang resoundingly clear to her, such as the folds of the tapestry cloth or the cracks in the stones that made the walls. Her sniper eyes saw through everything.

A banging bass started pounding in Bard's head. A migraine headache overcame him that he quelled with a wide smile and a deeply furrowed brow. His legs were parted wide and his stance was deeply dipped down. He slid his feet apart until the frayed, battle-damaged edge of his coattail hit the ground and then leaned forward and planted his fist on the floor, keeping the sword poised across his back. Rez kept his gunblades sheathed, his eyes masked by the shadows offered by his bandanna, and his eyes glinting with the perfect concentration of a duelist. Reginald took his halberd spear in both hands and pointed it forward at the doors.

"Is he here yet?" a burly pirate asked. Marco looked back and scowled at him. He was ready. He felt that the crew was ready too, but ready for what? Suddenly, with only the split-second twinge of danger to warn them, the doors were thrown out and flew straight past the front-line three, smashing against the floor as the pirates danced around the pieces that continued to roll and slide across the gala marble flooring. Gretta aimed with her bow drawn fully back and her hair flying out like a cape at the open door, but her hand refused to release the arrow. The sight she saw stunned her.

_What the hell...?_ she thought. _There's no way I could have seen this coming!_ Rupert emerged, cracking the floor with each step he took, more hideous and terrifying than ever. Reginald's guard was lowered to the point where his spear was dropped with a clang to the floor. His eyes widened and his mouth drifted open with fear. The pirates, Bard included, had a mixture of curiosity and wonderment.

"...What don't you guys have here?" Rez asked. Rupert, now glowing green, reemerged with a mane of white hair around his evilly twisted face and shadowed, round, glowing eyes. His body had shrunk down to Reginald's size and his muscles had all compacted together giving him an unholy amount of definition. The green glow came from the exposed clear tubes protruding form his shoulders that led back to a machine behind him, **one he had implanted into his back to feed his body constantly with more and more of the steroids and mental stimulants.** His face was dead, just like his whited eyes, but his body was flaring with life.

"No..." Reginald whispered. "He's killed himself..."

"He looks alive to me" Rez said. "What's the big deal here?"

"He's combined every stimulant that's been produced on this island in the last twenty years" Reginald explained. "His body can't compensate for all that artificial stimulation, so now he has to depend on that machine in his back to act as an external organ to circulate his tainted blood and fuel his body with the medicine."

"So..." Bard began thoughtfully, "break the thingy on his back?"

"Yes Bard" Rez flatly answered. "Break the thingy on his-" Rez was blown away and Rupert replaced him in space. Rez flew through the pirate crowd and slammed against the wall, cushioned by the bulky bodies of three of his crew mates. Still, the shock that he received to propel him so far had paralyzed his body.

_I couldn't see him move_ Bard realized. He looked over his arched shoulder and saw the hair of Rupert's mane moving to its own whim. Gretta fired her arrow at last, letting it sail just over Reginald's head and over Bard's back, aimed right at Rupert's eye. The arrow, a split moment later, was shattered and the tip was stabbed at Bard's back. Bard dove forward when the arrow had sailed over his back and blocked the arrow tip with Rez's sword. As soon as he stopped he swung the sword and stomped forward for a consecutive chop.

Rupert seemed to slide away, a blur of movement following him, and then he warped back in along the blunt line of the sword to punch Bard in the face. Bard threw his head and body back, throwing the sword straight up and forcing Rupert off. In the air his movement was reduced to pure reaction-ism. All he could do was lean. With this advantage Bard back-flipped and planted the tip of the sword into the floor, holding the handle over his head, and kicked his legs up.

"Rankyakuu!" Two ax blades sliced through the air at Rupert who, knowing he couldn't move as well, simply slapped the attacks into nothing. Bard landed and made a deep swing that seemed to contact something. It was Rupert landing on the tip as it swung down and slammed into the ground. He used the foothold to leap away, right into the middle of the pirate group with fists tensed and a blood-thirsty grin.

Another futile arrow flew for his head. He stopped it with a single finger and shattered it with a quick tap of that same finger. Gretta was so startled that she stumbled backwards.

"We're fighting a real monster now" Reginald said, slowly retrieving his halberd. Even as his arm moved slowly to toss the broken arrow aside, an echo of shaky movement followed his sleek, vein-pulsing arm. "It's out of our league. We just need to pray that he'll die before he can kill too many of us..."

* * *

A calm world met Colleen as she finally awoke to see the mixed company of friendly and unconscious faces. Sally, the bald and burly woman that Araly was fighting previous to Colleen getting knocked out, and some strange woman wrapped up in bandages were laid very carefully apart from each other while Zan was painfully clutching his arm and Araly was sprawled out with her stomach against the bleachers. Ignoring her heavy body Colleen got to her feet and staggared over. Zan noticed her first and made a move to catch her as she began to fall to the heavier side.

"Maybe you should lie down" Zan said, straining to get the words out properly. Colleen sat down and in doing so sat Zan down from his painful standing position. He panted and continued to rub his leg, wincing every so often. "Damn, that's a fracture. I underestimated him. He's got nasty methods of attack."

"My Captain?" she hopefully asked. Zan looked at her, a bit curious as to how she knew by the limited context that he gave. "Where is he? Is he alright? Is he..."

"Oh he's not dead" Zan said. He set his leg down carefully and sighed. "He's not dead until I decide he's not worth keeping alive, that is."

"No!" Colleen exclaimed. She leaned forward and lightly pounded her fist into his chest. "Don't you dare try to hurt my Captain! He saved us! He...he..." Colleen went lightheaded. Suddenly her brain was swimming and her body was limp. She clutched onto what consciousness she could while Zan kept her propped up. Araly finally recovered with a groan and rubbed the back of her head where Ramone had hit her to knock her out.

"That jerk" she said, lightly clutching a fist in anger. "After all I did to help him, this is how he thanks me?"

"He's a loner" Zan said. "Incidentally, this one woke up." Araly gasped and hurried over to make sure Colleen was alright. She was her friend, after all, crew affiliation or not. "She seems fine, if a bit woozy. I still can't believe how quickly he kicked our asses, though."

"He's a pirate" Araly said. "I suppose it's to be expected from him. Then again, _I'm_ a pirate, so I should have thought of it first and tied his hands and feet together." Araly took Colleen's pulse through her throat just as the blond girl came back to her senses and lurched forward in a warm, friendly embrace.

"Araly!" she exclaimed. "I'm so glad you're alright! You must have won after I got knocked out!"

"Yup" Araly said. She pushed Colleen away and flexed an arm with a wink and a grin, just to look as proud as she felt when she had won before. "It was nothing. She couldn't keep up with me if she wanted to!" Araly unwrapped Colleen's arm of the moisturizing, cooling wrap and looked at the result of her handiwork. Colleen followed her eyes and looked at her own arm. While the color was certainly not right, seeming warped brown and still retaining the creases from her scars, **the redness and the boils were all gone and her skin was smooth.** Colleen gaped at the results and looked all over her arm, admiring the beauty that had been restored.

"Nicely done, doc" Zan said, taking out a cigarette worn and darkened by ages. He had stolen it from Ramone's pocket during their struggle and only hoped that he hadn't actually escalated the incident in the first place. It was unlikely, but Ramone Cervantes wasn't known to be a passive guy when things were stolen from him.

"Thanks" Araly said with a proud smile. Zan noticed her tattoo once again glowing as he lit up his cigarette and decided, once and for all, to make her aware of it.

"Thank you" Colleen said, getting chocked up with tears. Zan saw her expression and Araly's revel in hearing her happy sobs and decided, all things considered, he'd better keep his mouth shut lest she turn his fracture into a shatter. "Araly...thank you so much..." Colleen broke down and began sobbing into both her hands, both feeling of the same silken skin she had been born with. Araly smiled and leaned in to wrap a comforting arm around the girl's back. Colleen leaned her crying head into Araly's stomach and continued to let the revelation to her years of torment come to an end before her very eyes.

As this scene transpired, Kurateka awoke and pushed herself off the ground with a start. She took a syringe and aimed to stab Araly in the back but a quick-acting Zan hopped up and sliced the syringe away with a quick punch and twist of his wrist. He stayed on one foot, keeping the other leg in the air so he didn't push any further injury. He winked at her and placed his blade at her throat threateningly. Araly turned around and scooted away from the unfolding battle, noticing Zan's leg shaking in pain.

"Nice try" Zan said. "You're pretty damn quick on the uptake, but still all around late."

"What are you talking about?" Kura asked. "I was having a bad dream that I woke up from too fast."

"That happened to me once" Araly admitted. "I ended up punching my mom by mistake."

"Same thing" Kura said, trying to coax Zan back to his defensive sitting position. "I was just having a bad dream! I swear it."

"Sit down, Zan" Araly said. "If she's going to make another move I can defend myself just as well." Zan smirked, sheathed his blade behind his back with a twirl and sat down. He let out a drag of smoke in a sigh that clouded up in front of Harriet's face. She revealed herself with a cough that parted the cloud of smoke. Colleen and Araly leaped into each other's arms and shrieked with fear while Kura reeled back on one leg, her arms thrown up in the air, and her only unbandanged eye bulging out beyond her face. Once Araly was done screaming she took a more analytic face and blinked until she realized who it was. Zan just looked at her and blinked, not surprised at all.

"Harriet?" Araly asked. "What are you doing here!?"

"You know her, I take it?" Zan said, pointing to her. Harriet paced along, walking with a long and gnarled staff with a handful of bandages in hand. She knelt down in front of Zan, rolled up his pant-leg and patched him up quickly. Then, with a quick splash of sea water from a pouch she carried, his bone was set and perfectly healed. "Holy hell" Zan said, so speechless his cigarette fell out of his mouth.

"It ain't quite fixed yet" she said. "It may feel like it, but all it's doing is pressing your bone together and sealing the crack in it while numbing the actual pain. I know you're a fruit user too, so that leg won't work if you use your power."

"Lame" Zan said as he went back to smoking. Harriet walked over with a grin to Araly who stood up to greet her.

"My, my deary" Harriet began. "What a day you've been through, eh? I've been watching on my monitors from all over the island. It looks like your friend is in there fighting a right-awful monster."

"Bard?" Araly asked. "Is he alright? Is he winning?"

"Last time I watched he was" Harriet said. She looked to Kurateka and just sneered to keep her frozen in place. Colleen, seeing that she was friends with Araly, timidly moved forward and shied behind Araly for the time being. "And you must be the beautiful young Colleen, the girl from those Ghost Killer pirates, eh?" Colleen was uninhibited by shyness and posed beautifully stretching her arms behind her back with batting lashes.

"Me? Beautiful?" she began modestly, switching poses to a mid-step runway style. "Oh, I'm not any prettier than any other girl." Araly watched her with a raised eyebrow and a pursed mouth. Harriet cackled jovially to herself and turned to Araly.

"And you, Araly!" Harriet exclaimed. "already you've mastered an intermediate understanding of alchemy! You should be proud! Not even a prodigy in chemical arts like these could achieve what you've done already, and in the course of less than a single day!"

"Thank you, Harriet" Araly said with a gracious bow. The witch had only one final matter of business to address and reached within her dirt-colored robes to retrieve a thick book of brown, frayed-edged pages. It was three-volumes thick and bound by tough tree bark and tight preserved leather.

"Here, deary" Harriet said, handing the book up to the grateful girl. "This is a compendium of all my knowledge on alchemy. Everything I was ever taught and everything I ever knew, all the secrets passed down since the books from the Blank Century, all the most prized treasures of the natural world's scientific miracles, it's all in there. You just need to master it all." A book! Araly was breathless, taken so far aback that even her nerve-calming tattoo was unable to fully withhold her grateful and overflowing feelings. "I knew you'd like it" Harriet said. "I see you've also grown attached to that **tattoo on your back!**" Zan slapped his forehead.

"It's a nice design, alright" Kura said, standing with her arms crossed and hips cocked. "Where did you get it? Do you remember?" Araly's brow was twitching. Her tattoo, with its infinitely calming attributes, simply shut off. She tried to look at her own back in a panic but couldn't move her head with enough flexibility to do so. Kurateka took out a hand-sized mirror from her outfit and handed it to her. Araly pulled down her dress from the back and looked at the golden, shining dragon face on her back, the very insignia of her pirate crew, and all the sedative force on the island couldn't stop her from screaming...

* * *

"You hear that?" a muscular Buster pirate asked. Just as his attention was momentarily drawn away Rupert made his instant move and slammed the back of hiss fist into his chest, propelling him across the floor while he drew his tightly wound arm slowly down to his side. Another pirate came up from behind with a cutlass drawn overhead. Rupert broke the blade off, crushed it in his palm and punched the pirate in the gut with the gathered metal shrapnel. Then he kicked him off the ground with a quick little stab of his toes and kicked him away with such speed that no one could follow the exact motion.

"What the hell is he!?" a pirate exclaimed.

"Just go for that machine on his back!" Marco called. Little did he know but the lion was eying him down through his glowing orbs. "If we take that out he should be decomiss-" Marco was silenced by a leaning uppercut to his gut. Rupert's lean fist sank so far into his stomach that Marco coughed up blood and bile from his own guts before being shot across the room with the incredible force. When the dust from the wall around him settled the black-and-blue indentation from Rupert's fist was imprinted into his skin. Rupert slowly rose his head up, his hair moving energetically all over the place like a white savannah fire, and turned slowly to Reginald and Bard.

Bard, however, wasn't on the ground. He was in the air, silently descending with Rez's sword wound up over his shoulder and gripped tight with both hands. He slashed down and slammed the blade into the ground. Rupert dodged back a step in a flash of a second just in time. Bard just used it as an opportunity to deliver a straight-kick and wrench the sword from the ground. Rupert dodged away yet again. Bard wielded the broadsword in one hand, swinging it wildly and forcing his crew to flee from his effective range. Rupert dodged and ducked each slice that Bard made. He wound up several powerful blows and spun into a few attacks to build momentum, but it all built up in a miss. After so much failed combat Rupert placed his fingertips on Bard's sternum and leaned his whole body in while extending his palm forward.

"TEKKAI!" Bard roared, blocking the shot just in time. He still slid far back before recovering and spinning the sword around to get it into position at his side. "That could've broken something if it connected! Is he really that strong!?"

"He is!" Reginald shouted. "However, strong as he is, his muscles aren't impossible to cut anymore! We can win if we can sever a nerve or blood vessel in the right spot!" Rupert caught his advice and dashed over as a pale blur. A stream of arrows followed him, catching his attention, and then one broke the floor at his feet. He glanced up at Gretta, who fired arrow after arrow, hoping one would do a proper job of either taking him out or distracting him in as timely a manner as possible.

"I know my father" she muttered. "He will slip up eventually, reminiscing over some stupid memory of his wife or brothers that left or sister who died or some other white-faced lie he's told me! He has to!" Gretta, on that logic, continued firing, effectively distracting him while Reginald made an attack. Rupert caught his motion too late and stepped to the side, hoping to avoid the overhead swing that Reginald made for his head. The blade hit the ground and Reginald recovered it, spinning the polearm around his broad abdomen rapidly, making short stabs with one arm and then winding it back up for larger lunges and slices with both hands controlling it.

"Kururu!" Reginald laughed. "I know you, Rupert! You wouldn't want me dicing up that precious little box of yours. You'll defend it with your life better than you will your own mane of hair!" Rupert finally noticed the imbalance of weight on his head. His mane had been cut and the hair still drifted down to the ground behind the advancing Reginald. Bard, meanwhile, came from behind with Rez's sword held high overhead, preparing for a helm-splitter attack at the mechanical box.

"ORYAHH!!!" Bard roared. Rupert pressed himself down and made an explosive leap up to the balcony, leaving a crater for Bard to swing into and Reginald to stop at with a skid. They both cast their gazes up, got their weapons ready once more and proceeded to the wall to ascend and attack. Gretta was left alone with her bow and arrows to defend herself from her manic father. Fear overcame her.

The monster before her was not her father at all but some strange and beastly, animistic thing that hungered for blood. The blood that coursed in her very veins. The blood of his lost 'love'. Rupert's face was cast in darkness and his eyes and bone-white grin were the only things to shine forth. Gretta fearfully moved back, keeping an arrow tense in the bowstring, and kept her aim as true to his heart as possible. She fired and missed, scraping the plastic of one of the tubes that was bore into his shoulder.

"Stay away from me" Gretta demanded, shooting another arrow. This one sailed through his hair and came out crooked and broken. "I...I don't know you" she said again, reaching a wall. She fired in reaction and had her arrow caught in his very fanged teeth. He bit the tip and spit the frail wooden shaft to the ground. Gretta pressed herself against the ground just as Bard landed with his sword at his side. He roared and made a Soru dash only to be caught by the same fingertips and leaning body.

"TEKKAI!!!" he roared once more, absorbing the blow with a grunt and flying away as Rupert leaned his entire body into pushing his palm forward. Gretta sank down to the floor as Rupert turned back to her and began quivering in fear. Rupert first took her mask, made of metal, and crushed it in his hands. Gretta's flat face sank with incredible fear, her eyes teared and her mouth widened to shout the devil down with her commanding voice.

"**STOP IT FAAATHEEERRR!!!!"** Rupert was stopped. His hair ceased its constant motion. Something within him, some arcane feeling was awakened and his humanity returned. It was a brief moment of clarity, one he could only stand and admire in the shock of being so swiftly overcome with it, made all the more brief by Bard's fully-wound up leg striking his face and driving full to throw him off into the air while Bard's body made a full barrel roll in the air before landing. His coattail cape blew up from the whipping force of his circular motion and his arms were fully flexed against his torso. Gretta gaped at him in wonder and awe. Bard turned around and extended a hand to her.

"Come on" he said. "We still need your help." Gretta stared at his hand, her eyes still tearing up and her mouth half open. She looked between his determined face and his hand, finally deciding to take it gently, only to get swept up onto her feet. She dizzily stumbled into his chest only to get pushed away and faced down with the adamant face of a pirate captain. "I know he's your dad, but if you want to help us you need to stop thinking like you're his daughter and think like you're one of us, alright? Can you at least try to be one of us for now?" Gretta stared into his eyes and became lost for a moment.

"Yes" she answered. "Yes...I can." Bard nodded and walked backwards to retrieve the sword he had stuck in the floor to better do his powerful kick. He made a running jump off the edge of the balcony and Geppou-jumped near the crater where Rupert had landed, giving himself a soft, running landing. Gretta clutched at her chest, feeling a swell of great romance, and watched him go before she took up her bow and arrow once again...

_One of you_ she thought. _Yes._ She drew the string back and aimed carefully at her recovering target. His eyes shone brightly. His mouth clacked open and shut with a quick roaring bark of rage and then a roar of power. _I will be one of you!_ She fired her arrow and let it spin through the air, a sharp and deadly missile inbound for the monster's eye!


	90. The One Day Coup pt5

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The fight carried on, with Bard and Reginald leading the primary offensive. Rez finally managed to scrape enough energy together to get on his knees and reload the cartridge of his gun with a spare ammo pack from the inside of his beaten jacket.

_Explosive slugs_ Rez noted as he loaded the magazine and cocked his gunblade. _Yeah. That should work._ He twirled his gun and lifted himself up along the wall behind, palming his way to a stand with his tender hand. _This guy's ridiculous! To think that all these drugs were made under Government authority! What would they use them for...? _Regardless, all of those drugs were being used by a single man to become an army in himself, and he was performing admirably.

With the carnivorous grin of a wild beast Rupert exploded forth and punched at Bard. He weaved past the punch and ran past Rupert who continued a berserk dash across the room. Everyone within his arm's swinging distance was blown with tremendous force off their feet and into the air as the creature skid to a stop just in front of the wall and started breathing erratically. Bard spun around with the sword in both hands and prepared to intercept him once more. Reginald broke out and made a mad dash forward with his spear held like a javelin.

"Take this, you bastard!" Reginald roared. He made a steep lean forward and threw the spear with all his muscular power, diving and rolling back to his feet as a result. The halberd lance flew through the air, straight at Rupert's exposed mechanical back, but hit the solid stone wall with an explosive force. Rupert stepped to the side and was making a fast run around the width of the room to the doors he had entered from. Once there he stopped, gathering the tension of his body's energy in his legs, and exploded toward Reginald. His old warrior sense demanded him to heed its sharp perception. He jerked his head back and went sailing backwards just as Rupert stopped and punched an explosive ripple in the air where his head once was.

"**ORYAAAHHH!**" Bard roared as he charged in. Rupert grinned in his direction, meeting the steely resolve of the blade as it descended to his brow. A few strands of hair were trimmed before Rupert hopped away and the sword crashed to the ground. Bard jerked it back up and swung before Rupert could close on him. He kept him at bay with his powerful, quick swings to the side and ended by making a kick forward and swinging the sword down with the same sided arm. Rupert only retreated from the attacks. He wasn't circling or maneuvering past them. Bard took the weapon up once more, this time keeping the blade flat and aiming from his shoulder, and prepared to stab.

"Soru!" he called. A short, unseen dash later the sword was stabbed and Bard slid forward with its force. Rupert sailed backwards, his feet just barely above the dusty surface of the floor, and both stopped at the same moment. Rupert jumped away, rebounded off the wall and landed behind Bard, all with the speed that rivaled Bard's own trained Soru. Bard turned with a clenched jaw and received a devilishly strong backhand to his face. Keeping a conscious grip on the sword handle Bard began tumbling away until his own gravity stopped him and he slid along on his side.

_He's not fighting right_ Bard realized as he gathered himself back to stand. Rupert made a rush in, one barely visible in its speed, with both fists drawn back. Bard rolled onto his back, the upper part of his back, and countered his charge with a spinning kick and a roll into a sword slash. Once back on his feet Bard began hopping to the left while Rupert stayed a fair distance away, his skin crawling and his hair moving on its own from the constant coursing of fluid rage that flowed within him. Bard reached the wall, the border of some deep impact, and **grabbed Reginald's halberd** to double his offensive power. He grinned and began charging again.

_Fighting isn't just a back-and-forth game_ Bard thought. _You can't just use two dimensions to move! You need to use all four!_ Bard began stabbing and slashing as gracefully as he could with two heavy weapons. He carried their weight around by spinning in the direction of his attacks and exiting his constant motion with a stab or a vertical slash. Rupert continued to retreat, unaware of his surroundings, until he found himself in a corner. Then Bard backed off with a long jump backwards where he was joined by Reginald.

"Here" Bard said, tossing him his weapon. He panted heavily from his relentless attacks. Reginald took a careful notice of his condition.

"You're overworking yourself, aren't you?" Reginald asked.

"I can feel a second wind coming on" Bard said with a grin. "I'll be fine. More importantly, I figure something out."

"What?" Reginald asked.

"His fighting style" Bard mentioned. "He's too simplistic. He isn't moving from side to side at all, just forward and back when he fights. The only way he can attack is from a center line."

"Center line?" Reginald asked.

"Yeah" Bard said, assuming that Reginald knew what it meant. "If you can move from the center line he'll try to retreat. If he has to fight two people he has to make sure at least one of them is connected to his center line before he can attack, then he'll either force them to retreat or get them far enough away to engage the second. He's fighting like he's in a competitive duel!"

"A...duel?" Reginald noted. He looked over at Rupert, who was twitching and stirring in the corner, his eyes glowing white and this tubes shaking from the motion of liquid exchange occurring in his body. _I see. Even in this state he tried to retain his kingly status. Fighting against us all honorably, always giving us a chance to at least anticipate his attacks...that sick bastard. He's pitying us! _"Stay near me Bard. We will go for his precious mechanism this time!"

"Alright!" Bard exclaimed. They charged in from opposing angles, Bard curving to the left and Reginald running in from the right. Rupert glanced back and forth between them, jumped up and thrust his feet and fists through the wall, guarding his box in the stone corner with a grin. "I got it!" Bard exclaimed. He jumped up and swung the sword in order to gain momentum as he spun faster and faster, charging a devastating Rankyakuu kick. Gretta drew an arrow back and fired at her father. The combative creature saw her motion and caught the arrow in his teeth but not before **the other one sunk into his shoulder.** The full force of an Amazonian arrow had pierced through his shoulder and staked him to the wall.

* * *

_You deserve that_ she said, drawing now **four arrows into her bow.** _I'll give you no mercy for taking my father...you beast!_ The white-hot rage of her heart blazed forth as she fire her arrows. Not wanting to risk another stab he withdrew all his limbs and deflected all the arrows, leaving himself fully exposed to bard below.

"Rankyaaaaakuuuu!!" Bard called as he spun. He finally stopped himself with a huge kick that made a dull explosion as the blade formed and flew through the air. **"RAZOR WAVE!!!"** The attack hit Rupert into the wall where his metallic machine was smashed and beaten. The tubes stopped working for a few beats of his dying heart. Bard landed and stabbed into the ground, using the sword to regain his balance and stop the room from spinning. "Take that!" Bard shouted, pointing off in a random, incorrect direction. "**NO ONE MESSES WITH THE BUSTER PIRATES!!!"**

Rupert groaned and growled from his new spot in the wall. Bard regathered his comrades and moved the unconscious bodies away from the floor in an attempt to make them a bit safer. Rez was up and moving around, though with a bit of a stagger that he couldn't fight off. Bard grabbed him and planted his sword once more while Rez made a weak swing with the butt of his gun to his head.

"Don't just stab it wherever you please!" Rez chided while bard kept him from falling over. "Be more gentle with it, alright? There's only one person in the world who can fix it and he's in the South Blue. Unless you feel like leaving the Grand Line before you even get there I suggest you keep my stuff intact when you use it."

"I'm not doing that bad with it" Bard said, sounding hopeful for appraisal. Rez looked up and smiled at him.

"You're a pro with that thing" Rez admitted. "Granted, you're about twice my size in muscles, but you really know how to use that thing!" Bard grinned with pride.

"I mastered using a three-part staff when I was a kid" Bard admitted. "I also got a staff that was just a regular staff and I was pretty good with that too!" Rez was gawking with shadowed eyes.

"As long as you get to hit people with something" he said "you're just a natural with it, aren't you?"

"I guess so!" Bard pleasantly admitted.

"Jackass!" Rez growled, making Bard flinch. "Don't lord that over people all the time! You could get killed for bragging out on the Grand Line!"

"Granted" Reginald said, stepping in to interrupt and pull them away, "you could get killed on this ocean for just about anything."

"Listen guy" Rez said, "I've got a full clip of piercing explosive rounds loaded up. If you want that thing destroyed in one shot I'll need you to give it to me. Get him stunned, frozen, somehow immobile and get me to his back so I can end this."

"Understood" Reginald said. He traded Bard his halberd for Rez's body and helped him to stand. "Just say when and we'll move out."

"Right" Rez said, leaning down to a knee to keep himself up. "Bard...you keep doing what you're doing. I trust you."

"Thanks" Bard said, favoring the halberd over the sword. He kicked the staff end and began spinning the spear around his hand with the simple, minor circular movement of his arm. He let the shaft tap against his other hand and reverse direction with just a flick of movement, then stopped it when he got a proper grip on it. Reginald was impressed. Rez just scowled.

"'Right!" Bard exclaimed. "I'm off!" Before he could get his legs into a good sprint he sensed something coming and stomped his feet flat to the ground. He turned his torso around and swung the blade to deflect a bullet shot at long range. Then he gripped the spear and reset his feet to deflect several more as some mysterious assassin unloaded an entire rifle in his direction. Once the shots stopped Bard glared hard in the direction of the sniper while Rez and Reginald heeded his own silent commands and went off with Rez running along with an arm around Reginald for support. Rupert fell down from the wall and climbed slowly up to his feet again, his machine ruptured but still working at more halted intervals.

"**GGGGGG**" Growled some maleficent voice as the rifle hit the floor. "**As expected, you're a sharp fighter. But how're your reflexes against me...?"** Bard suddenly heard a dull buzzing coming from above. He looked up at the ceiling but couldn't see past the **cloud of insects that circled over head.** Ramone stood in the doorway, more specifically the hole where Rupert had been forced through before, a stolen sword in his hand and **his jaw detached.** A dark mist swirled around inside his exposed throat, a miasma of insect origin, the toxic product of his Poisonous Cloud Stink Bugs. His tired eyes were cast at Bard, and no sooner had Bard taken full notice to his situation then did Ramone attack, sending his hand up and then throwing it palm-side down. **"CLOUD OF ABADON!!!"**

Bard began a flighty run across the room while his crew stayed as together as they could. Ramone moved his hand to the side and the descending cloud moved to target the pirates instead.

"CRAP!" a pirate shouted as he fired into the crowd of bugs. A small hole formed and only a few small insects fell from the air, but their bodes were lost amidst the terribly noisy living cloud that encroached. Bard stopped and turned swiftly around. He jumped and made several spinning kicks that propelled his body upwards, ending in two wide slicing Rankyakku kicks. The energy blades flew up and glided through the crowded cloud of bugs, flying all the way through into the wall on the other side. Gretta witness this attack in tandem with the assault that Reginald and Rez initiated on her former father. As she looked back and forth from point to point, battle to battle, she found it necessary all the more to clutch her head and shut her eyes tight...

_...what do I do...?_Her mind ached to make a decision.

* * *

_What do I do?_ She thought. _I can't help everyone...though, I don't need to help everyone. Only those I wish to help._ She stood straight and glanced to the side where an unlit torch was. She aimed an arrow at it and shot it so that it perfectly struck sparks off the wall and lit the torch in a blazing fire. _That's it then. It's up to me to decide who receives my help in the end...isn't it? How troublesome. I should have seen this coming from the beginning. _She took the torch itself and drew it back with her bow, aiming for it to arc through the air and land in the heart of the cloud. Ramone's eyes were instantly drawn to the light high up and across the room, and now his insects were given new direction. He aimed them at Gretta just as she fired the flaming bolt.

"No!" she exclaimed. "They changed direction!" Her dread was amplified as she discovered that the bugs were heading in her direction now, an unstoppable living plague of pain and darkness. Her arrows would be useless, her only method of defense would serve to quicken her own demise, and all at the hands of that demon man she spent so long fawning over. In a rage she turned her aim to him and sent an arrow slicing through the air that shattered his arm into a flaky dust.

"Nice reaction" Ramone said. His arm was already growing back, his worker bugs hurriedly rushing to reform his arm as a solid piece. He raised his other arm up with spread fingers and clenched a tight fist. The cloud tightened up and started to spiral at her as a dark, reaching entity. Gretta froze up, predicting the horrible and obvious outcome.

"**YA-HOOOOOOO!!!"** Bard shouted. He was soaring upwards, chasing after the cloud with the brave halberd in one hand and the torch Gretta shot in the other. He drew his right leg up and slowly lit his pant leg on fire. Then he drew it back and began, with a rolling of his tongue, calling his attack. "**RRRRRANKYAAAAKUU!!!"** His leg began to vibrate, which fueled the fire with motion and kicked the flames up drastically until the licking flames fully surrounded his black leg and boot. "**Imperia Dragon LANCIAAAA!!!**" Bard jerked his shoulder back and made a flat kick straight at the dark cloud. Ramone tried to move it away but his motion wasn't fast or early enough. Now a spiraling funnel of fire, a Rankyakuu spear kick fueled by a raging inferno, sliced straight through the living cloud of insects. In an instant the bugs were all burned to dusty ashes and fell, one by one, in smoking little clusters of former matter from the air, all while Bard landed with a spear kick to the ground that dissipated the flames in a wide explosive force.

"**HOOOOO!!!!" **called Rupert in his flying charge forward. With his mighty hands stretched forward and his wide mouth gaping open for Bard's throat, he resembled a lion in mid-pounce. Bard simply ducked under him and delivered a spear kick straight to his gut which stopped his forward motion and lifted him up. Bard kicked up and spun around to kick Rupert yet again as he stayed above his head. Rupert flew over the floor in a wild spiral but caught the ground with his one hand and feet. Bard leaped away as Rez and Reginald came circling around with Rez's gun aimed directly at the protruding machine on the man's back. Rupert caught sight of them just a second too late.

"Say G'Night, bastard!" Rez shouted. He shot an explosive slug that Rupert drew his arm up to block. The flames of the explosion and then the billowing smoke covered Rupert from sight. The pirates were so sure of their victory that they had allowed Ramone to come running in with both his hands drawing back with single index fingers pointing out.

"**Fatal Mark: Eighteen-Point Star!**" Bard turned around just as Ramone launched his nerve-pressing attack and saw a flurry of fingers that ended with a deadly eighteenth finger that pierced through Bard's skin and went bloodily into the center of his body, right under this sternum, right between his ribcage, right into his diaphragm. Bard dropped the halberd and fell forward as Ramone drew back. "You're all...**worthless to me.**" Ramone growled. He looked to the smoke screen as his jaw skittered up on buggy legs and reattached to his face. Rupert was breathing heavily and standing upright. His arm was scorched from deflecting the bullet and protecting his device and his eyes had been drawn out from the shadows as piercing and narrow glaring orbs of anger.

"**You can't even kill an old man properly..."** Such an insulting remark. Bard reached out to grab Ramone's leg, but given how slow his heart seemed to beating he decided it would be better to simply let him get away with asserting his reborn rage... "I'll show you how to fight on the Grand Line, newbie..." Ramone took the liberty of joining the fight now, only after dispensing Bard as quickly as possible. Gretta was at such an crossroad that she became stunned with indecision and couldn't act on any of her sprung nerves. She wanted to kill Ramone, but he was helping now, but only after he had killed Bard! Gretta had an arrow nervously strung to her bow and her hands both shook violently.

Bard groaned down on the floor, under the noise of the room and out of the reach of everyone's ears. He made no effort to move or make his life status known. He just took the opportunity to rest as it came to him and recovered the stamina he had expelled in his last major attack.

An obnoxiously loud buzzing sound came to the air finally, and Ramone's army of insects was reborn. He raised up his right arm and glowered down at the beaten white-maned king. Then, with a nasty grin, he growled out his command.

"**MI-GO!!!"** The voracious giant centipede exploded from his body and formed his new right arm. He extended his left arm as well. **"YI-GO!!!"** And the second centipede burst from his fragile skin, clicking and hissing in its alien way, casting its hideous face and snapping jaw around as it pleased. "Come on, you lonely, lowly son-of-a-bitch bastard!" Ramone growled. "See if you can crush this bug under your heel!!!" The giant writhing creatures wiggled around above Ramone's head while he parted his legs and leaned back against their pulling weight. "**GGGGGGG!!!!!"**

"**MOHOOOOO!!!"** Rupert growled back with all his muscles tense and ready to spring. The Buster Pirates, pleased as they were to get an outside aide, were still drawn back and tearing up with anger over their fallen captain. Rez and Reginald had frozen in place, beret with the terror of losing Bard in such a sudden way.

"Damn" Rez cursed. He stabbed his gunblade into the ground and cursed once more, and with greater feeling. "DAMN!!!"

"That poor boy" Reginald said solemnly. "He was a fantastic fighter...if a bit strong-headed..."

_OWWWWW!!!_ Bard painfully exclaimed to himself. _My whole body just got shocked from being numb! PINS AND NEEDLES! PINS AND NEEDLES EVERYWHEEEEERE!!!_ And so the final stand off ensued between Ramone and the object of his eternal rage. An entire year of torment, and the time he spent in Hell only to reemerge a stronger monster than he had ever been before, was all about culminate in his ultimate act of justice. Ramone Cervantes, a man proclaimed universally to be dead via guillotine, had undergone his ultimate transformation as he controlled not only his subservient centipede limbs but a cloud of hornets and stinging poisonous bugs and acid-drooling dragonflies just overhead.

From this terrible image, portrayed many times in the Marine documents, the mysterious and unnamed 'Lord of the Flies' had been born. Now that demonic creature stared down another terrible being, barely alive in any sense of the human word, a terribly destructive monster breathing only the fumes of its own aimless hate and fury. All sound and action to signify nothing, a monster without a purpose.

Ah, what a fight it will be!


	91. The One Day Coup Final

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

0

The final battle began. Ramone rushed in with his living, freely moving limbs of giant centipedes reeling and twisting around. Rupert had labored breath from enduring the battle up until now. His old, old heart aged rapidly by the drugs that coursed in his blood, was beating beyond its mortal limit. Rupert's consciousness slowly returned as his body faded away into a more normal speed of motion. Then, suddenly, his machine kicked on powerfully and blasted his body with chemicals. His mind was gone again and his power was restored.

Ramone brought both his 'arms' down and blocked Rupert's warp-speed punch with the steely skin of his centipedes. "Ggggg...." he growled. He stepped in and pushed away with powerful swings. His right arm, the orange-plated Mi-Go, whipped forward and chomped at Rupert. The manic king dodged and swooped in with a dash. Yi-Go came down and bit into his stone-solid shoulder to stop him. Ramone stomped his foot into the stone and raised his left arm up to throw Rupert into the air. Once he was airborne he turned and took in a sharp breath.

"**Black CLOUD!!!"** Ramone called. From his open mouth a cloud of stinging, destructive insects came buzzing out and encircled Rupert. Wasps and Dragonflies, Beetles and more common Flesh-Eating Flies all formed a living cloud around the king. Rupert, in his incredible physical responsive state, was able to flick and squish each individual bug as it came in to try and attack him. The cloud suddenly parted as his arms blazed rapidly around his body and Ramone flew up growling. He reached his body right and let Mi-Go advance to take a voracious chomp to Rupert's abdomen. Rupert smacked the bug away, letting it take with it the strands of flesh and drops of tainted blood that split out. His wound closed up almost instantly and started to sizzle with a toxic green smoke.

Ramone landed with a growl and clicked his teeth. The bugs retreated and surrounded him while Rupert landed and dashed back in. Rupert threw a powerful punch to hit the air, rather that Ramone, and disrupted the flight of the insects enough to kill most of them with a series of fast swipes. Ramone coiled Yi-Go around his body and gave Rupert a launching bash that sent him to the wall. Rupert landed on the wall and sprung back, landing beside Ramone, giving him a terrible punch, and then retreating away across the entire room as he continued on his rebounding force. Ramone had fallen again but was risen up by his insectoid arms and placed back on his feet while the flaky hole in his side from the punch widened. Ramone looked down in shock and then glared forward through his moving shield.

_That bastard_ he thought. _I'm out of energy already. I can't regenerate my skin anymore, there's nothing to use around me for wax or resin. Mi-Go and Yi-Go aren't doing too well either. I can tell, from their tired swaying, that they're hungry and my control on them is slipping...Damn! I'm too close to give up now!_ Ramone started a rush forward as Rupert disappeared in his high-speed movement. Ramone stopped suddenly and blocked Rupert's descending leg with the steel hide of Mi-Go. _I've come to far to lay down and die! I'm not backing away!!!_ Ramone tossed Rupert up and then quickly gripped him with Mi-Go's mouth.

"GGGGAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!" Mi-Go began whipping Rupert's body around, smashing it against the ground as it reeled and arced violently. Each hit to the ground shattered the marble tile with the king's terribly beaten body. Still, through the attack, Rupert's crazed mind only permitted him to smile, and smile he did, bearing his fanged teeth like the lion he was. Ramone stomped forward with another slam, spun himself and dragged Rupert's body through the tile in a half-circle before throwing him against a nearby wall. Rupert recovered quickly, gripping the sides of the hole in the wall he was sunken into and pulled himself out in a pounce. Ramone retreated in long leaps. Rupert landed and sprung forward again, this time stealing Mi-Go away in his powerful grip. His machine churned down again, but not before he mimicked the attack by whipping Mi-Go's body against the floor and spinning it overhead to build momentum for a massive throw upwards.

"Damn!" Ramone exclaimed. Now he was, quite literally, disarmed. Still, he had to fight, and mode a short dash forward with a furious snarl on his face. He leaped up with Yi-Go wound back and threw him forward, piercing the ground with his platinum head. Rupert was behind Ramone and backhanded him into the floor where he bounced away, leaving flaky chunks of his haggard body behind as he spun. Now he was armless and panting heavily, his face cracked down the middle from the force of the attack against his brittle, hive form.

_This is it, isn't it?_ He thought as Rupert laboriously approached. Rupert stopped just over Ramone's head and slowly raised his leg up. _Goddammit. I should have trained harder...I should have waited for something better to come along..._ Ramone closed his eyes and slowed his own breath. He prepared himself to die.

"**ORYAAAAAAHHH!!!**" roared the forceful voice of a Buster Pirate as he charged into scene. Rupert turned to him just as he received the powerful shoulder charge the burly brawler delivered. Behind him rushed the rest of his comrades, with swords and guns all in arm, and they all surrounded and swarmed Rupert's body with blunt blows from their guns and the blunts of their swords. The stronger ones stomped and kicked with their own bodies as their preferred tools. Ramone looked over and saw the display of sheer brutality. He tried to inch himself over with insects crawling from his body to carry him over, but a ground shattering arrow stopped him from going any further.

"From now on" Gretta said, lowering her hands from her bow, "it's their fight to finish..." Gretta took a seat against the railing, her back to the rest of the room, and removed her mask to let her tears roll from her expressionless eyes. _I really don't know anything_ she thought. _I always thought there was someone, something out there that was fantastic, unreal, unpredictable...but in the end the cruelest reality is always the truest one. I can't keep hoping for a happy ending anymore. I don't live in such a world of miracles..._

Just then, Bard pounded his fist to the floor and strained his body up. This Ramone observed and gasped angrily at.

"Damn!" Bard hissed. "I can't just lay around all day! I've still got a fight to win!!!" Bard stood up and took in as deep a breath as his lungs would allow. Ramone saw the red lines connecting the points where he punctured his nerves, an eighteen-point star across his broad torso, and he forced out a sigh.

_There are nineteen points there_ Ramone observed. _He must have fallen on a piece of sharp debris to trigger that final one and save himself...Ggggggg, idiot._

0

'Bastard!' 'We'll beat you stupid!' 'No one messes with us!' 'King or not, we'll kick your ass chafed!' Such were the shouts of the Buster Pirates as they mobbed over Rupert's helpless body. Then, with one stray kick led on from someone in steel-toed boots, the machine chugged on and delivered a shocking pulse of raw power through Rupert's body. In an explosive force the wild King shot up and swung both his arms outward to throw the mob away. He was cleared a large circle of peace while the pirates were piled on top of each other and sloppily tossed about. Rupert looked around with his manic, white eyes and just barely caught sight of a leg that consumed all the light in his world.

"**RANKYKAUU!!!!" **Bard shouted. He delivered a devastating kick from his leaping position and landed as Rupert was tossed head over hell and shoulder over shoulder across the room. Bard took a long, measured breath out and shrugged his shoulders to straighten his posture.

"Captain!" a pirate exclaimed. Bard turned to the pirate and immediately made his way to him. "You're alive! I can't believe-" Bard grabbed him by the collar and pulled him to his feet.

"Get everyone outta here" Bard commanded. "Including Ramone. I'm taking this damn castle down with that old bastard!" Bard let go and aimed his body straight forward, right at Rupert who was still on the ground, holding his bleeding face in pain. Although his body was toned and tense and reflexively a perfect machine-aided machine, his face had no sufficient muscles to train, and so he received the full of a dull blade right across the bridge of his nose and the flying force of a knife in both his closed eyes.

"**HAAAAAAAA!!!!!!**" Rupert roared. The painful cry of a beaten animal, the desperate struggle to defy the pain in his voice. Everyone heard it, including Bard, but there was an aura about Bard that no one had ever seen before. Despite the dishonor of beating a downed foe, Bard's rage could not be held back and with a Soru rush he kicked Rupert's body up, grabbed it and spun him around so he landed on his feet again. Then Bard punched him straight in the face. He gave a short uppercut, leaning up with his body and keeping his arm tight and flexed. Rupert staggered away, raising a hand and coughing out in pain. Bard took the forearm of the hand and tossed Rupert to the ground over his shoulder. His attack was relentless.

From the ground Rupert pushed himself up and got back to his feet. Bard threw another straight with his left and Rupert dodged with a quick slide to the side, catching and holding his arm in a flex with his bicep. Bard made a quick jab with his right and landed a hit on Rupert's throat. Another jab and Rupert caught the fist in his hand. Rupert and Bard growled each other down, both just as angry and animistic as the other, but Rupert acted first. He moved in and locked Bard's legs down while Bard drew one back. Rupert's defense worked to throw Bard's balance off and he was able to topple Bard. The blonde boy recovered quickly, thrusting his palm to the floor and spin-kicking himself back up. Rupert got a kick to the face and backed away, keeping his fists up and ignoring the warm, viscous blood that drooled out from the corner of his mouth.

"Come on!" Marco shouted as he rode on the back of a more healthy pirate. Rupert turned curiously and saw his former prey swiftly evacuating. Ramone was in the reluctant hands of another large pirate as the entire group fled.

"Wait..." Rupert moaned, turning and reaching out for them with a gripping hand. He made the effort to dash over to them, but Bard kept the pace. Making a Soru-speed leap he stayed up in the air long enough to hook Rupert's neck into his leg and pushed off to get ahead of him with a steady fist wound back. Once he hit the ground and slowed down he saw Rupert slow down as well. Then Bard stepped forward and threw his punch, sending Rupert across the room once more. Rupert lay on the ground for a moment before turning himself over and coughing up a nasty amount of blood. He held a hand to his mouth, trying to keep as much blood inside his own body as he could, failing to take notice to his broken machine. The tubes were still connected into his flesh but they fed nothing and had nothing taken into them. There was a pale green, pasty liquid lining the interior of each tube, meaning the last transaction with his mechanical organ was one to send even more power into him.

"No..." Rupert groaned. He had regained his full clarity of mind, fuller than he had ever experienced, a total reversal of his natural age. He could see back in time as if looking at a bundle of pictures, and what he saw were visions from a monster. "No...!" With frantic hands he reached for his head, the madness of all his years finally catching up to him, and he gripped his brittle white hair as tight as his weak fingers could. "No! NOOO!!!!" Bard was still on his raging heat and kicked Rupert's mouth shut, literally, lifting him off the ground with the straight punt he placed. Bard's jaw was clenched, his teeth fully flashing, his nostrils flared, his brow furrowed and his eyes, oddly, were the same terrible shade of white that Rupert had not too long ago.

"**YAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!"** Bard, still aloft in the air, planted the sole of his boot on Rupert's sternum and pushed off with a straight, flat pushing kick. Rupert went through a wall, Bard landed in a crouch and immediately pursued. There was no rest for this mighty pirate warrior. He would fight until **somebody was dead.** Blinded by rage, Bard blasted through the new hole and continued his attack.

0

"Is that everyone?" Marco asked. He looked over the crowd of panting, tired, beaten pirates and gave a quick head-count. "Good. That's everyone."

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Rez roared. He and Reginald rested closer to the castle than the rest, of course Rez was unable to move from the cobblestone ground that he angrily pounded at. "Why did you drag us out here too? Huh? What about the goddamn plan!?"

"The plan's gotten too old to work" Reginald said. "If you wanted the glory you should have gone for it when you had a chance. Now that Bard's started fighting on Rupert's level, it's only a matter of time before this whole bastardized castle becomes a ruined grave for that smug, white-haired devil..." Reginald took a tired, final look at the castle and fell to his back. "I can't wait...when those walls come crashing down, one of you wake me up..." Reginald closed his eyes and his head fell limply to the side. He slowed his breathing until it couldn't be heard. Rez took a worried look to his old friend and dragged himself over to his peaceful face while the crew watched in collective dread.

"Drake?" Rez said. Reginald didn't move in response. Rez started to become frantic, thoughts of terrible dread circulating in his head. "Drake? Drakengard, are you alright?" Rez tapped his head but saw nothing happen. No movement at all. Even his beard seemed to be totally stiff. Rez sat up, removed his bandana and clutched his forehead in his palm. The rest of the pirates looked away and shied their eyes to the sky. Many were filled with sadness, some had eyes sparkling and filling with tears...but Rez's eyes were filled with regret. "I'm sorry...old man." Rez took his gunblade and stabbed it into the ground in front of him, near Reginald's arm. He took a sullen moment of silence, as did everyone else.

Reginald's body shot up with his eyes wide and his mouth wider.

"**KRUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!"**

"**BWAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!"** screamed the entire company of pirates. Reginald blinked, took a quick glance around, and then looked at a shock-white Rez curiously.

"Sorry" Reginald said, rubbing his head. "I passed out for a second, didn't I? It's been a long-ass day for me." Reginald looked past Rez at the castle, heard the rumbles of battle within, and then looked back down at Rez with a grin. "How long you think it'll take that kid to win?" Rez was clutching his fists so hard that his callouses were creaking and splitting open. Rez took his gunblade from the ground and slammed Reginald on the back of the neck with the blunt butt, then spun it around and sheathe it. Once it was safely in its holster Reginald groaned and leaned forward, out cold once more.

"Jackass" Rez growled. "You don't pretend to be dead...and then scare the living crap out of all of us!!!" The pirates were chuckling as hard as they could, so utterly amused with Rez's antics they turned a blind eye to the fact that he potentially concussed an old man. Rez did take a long glance back at the hug castle behind him and wondered the same thing. "That guy's strong enough. I'm sure it won't be too long..." A sudden shaking boom from inside the castle. The Buster Pirates all huddled around to watch as the front gate and the wall around it went tumbling down inside the castle, the first major link in the chain of destruction that took out the entire frontal area of the fortress.

Araly and the company she kept saw it all too. A Buster Pirate walked over with Ramone in his arms to deliver him to a proper medical care. Araly was still upset about the fact that she had accidentally given herself a tattoo, but upon seeing Ramone's body she immediately returned to professional, healing thoughts.

"We'll you're screwed up" she said, wiping her cheeks.

"Ggggg" Ramone growled. "What're you cryin' about? That kid'll be fine..." Colleen rushed over and looked down at her captain with tears in her eyes. Ramone looked up at her and closed his eyes with a harsh, laboured sigh. "He's a lot stronger than you think..." Araly looked down at him, then up at the castle that shook with the destructive notes of ruin once more. A soft wind blew her hair and moved the clouds away, revealing just how far into the evening sky the orange sun was setting. The coup of one day was nearly over, but for Araly it meant something much more terrible.

"Oh Bard" she said. "Don't go too far..."

0

"**KAAARRRRYAAAAAHHHH!!!!!**" Bard roared. Rupert could only back away and receive the powerful blunt force that the manic blonde boy threw at him. With each step of advance Bard threw another punch or swung another mighty elbow or made a hooking kick to knock Rupert over only to use the same leg to kick him up to his feet again. The attack was endless, relentless, inhumanly ruthless. Bard seemed dead-set on making his enemy dead through the power of his fists alone. Bard pushed Rupert away with a solid palm-blow to his chest, jumped up and kicked a Rankyakuu blade out. Rupert jumped to the side and rolled on the ground. Bard kicked off the air and punted Rupert off a wall, then kicked him down to the ground with a might ax kick as he came bouncing back to him.

"Guu....." Rupert coughed. His blood climbed through the air and fell short back onto the floor around him. "Mmm.....aaaagggghhh....." His groaning was low and dying, the final painful notes of a man whose life was rapidly losing. Bard reached down and grabbed him by his neck, squishing his fleshy muscles and placing him back on his feet. Rupert just fell over, right onto his face, and slowed his breathing. Bard was panting and wringing his hands wrathfully, looking down at the fallen glory of King Lioncrest. Bard took a quick look at his knuckles, which were red from the force of his own ferocious pummeling. Bard recovered his clarity and his pupils returned to his eyes. Finally he saw the result of his angered tangent.

Rupert's body was a broken heap of incorrectly bending joints and disgustingly angled bones. A pool of shallow, thin blood started forming from the wounds near his chest and his still bleeding face. Rupert still breathed, but it was a harsh and labored breath that sent the dreadful signal that it would soon end. Bard went down to one knee and lowered himself to get a better look at Rupert. He turned him to his side so he could cough out the blood he was breathing and saw him smile.

"Mohohoho...." Rupert chuckled. "I've had this a long time coming!"

"......" Bard just silently looked at him, keeping him from drowning in his own blood so he could peacefully see the results of all his hard treachery fall and crumble. The castle was shattering already, along with the life of its King.

"You're a good lad" Rupert said. "I...wish I had a son like you....a young man to put me in my place when I get out of control." Bard looked at the floor. He felt bad looking at a man so grateful to be dying. "No...I already had someone like that, but he wasn't a son of mine. He was a brother, and a friend. I tried to do away with him....because I didn't want anyone to try and fix me. There wasn't anything wrong with me, that I could recall....but looking back......I was a monster....." Bard could feel it instantly. In his final repentance, **Rupert had died.** Just as Bard moved away, looking down at the fallen foe with a regretful somber look, the castle began to shake ever more violently and Gretta walked out from a dark doorway, drawing a protective veil from her face.

"That should do it" she said. "All that black, explosive powder that father worked with and all those glowing liquids should cause a big enough explosion to bring down the castle." She looked up at the shaking rafters and the falling dust that they knocked loose. "I hope I did it right, or I could explode with the castle..." Gretta began running to where she knew the front gate would be. That was where Bard was, setting Rupert's body aside and covering it with a fallen tapestry that was hung on the shaking wall. He pounded his fists together and lowered his head in an honorable prayer.

"You were a strong guy" Bard said "but everyone has a weakness. I'm sorry that you couldn't be strong against it in your worst time..." Bard finished his prayer, raised his head and took a deep breath. He patted his hands against his hips and stayed them there as he gazed around in confusion. "Right. Now, for my escape!...How?" Gretta came running as Bard stupidly glanced around for a way out. She beheld him before seeing the giant pile of rubble that sealed her in. She slowed down, never stopping until she was right at the edge of the pile, and placed a hand upon it. She looked over at Bard sadly, seeing that he was just looking at her and blinking, perfectly natural in his surroundings. Then her sharp eyes caught the cover over the body, and she immediately concluded the predictably obvious with a sigh.

"I hope" she began "you can atone for this..." Bard blinked.

"Eh?"

"Taking away a young girl's father..." she said, cupping her elbows with her hands, tightly holding her arms together to comfort herself, "What kind of monster are you?" Bard placed his hand on her shoulder and saw that she was holding back all her sadness. He could see her eyes shaking, flat as they were, ready to start spilling tears and he smiled at her.

"I'll think of something" Bard said. "I promise..." A tremendous force shook the ground. The chemicals and gunpowder down in the basement laboratories of the castle were mixing and becoming incredibly volatile. Explosions were shaking the floor in rapidly paced intervals. Bard suddenly wrapped his arms around Gretta and time all slowed down. Gretta's breath was stolen from her as Bard steeled his body with a mighty, iron flex.

"**TEKKAI!!"** All the rocks that hit him fell apart and buried them both in a mass of rubble and stone. The castle imploded, the towers toppled and fell inward as the entire foundation was shaken and dismantled instantaneously. The entire structure, entirely evacuated, was dead along with the king. The mind-warped citizens and staff of the grand estate all sobbed upon watching this historic sight, and only a single man among the collected mass of people bothered to shed his tears with a grin. Jed, for reasons and from memories he didn't know, was so happy to see this sight that he felt was too long coming.

_Thank merciful God_ Jed thought. _I thought I'd never see such a beautiful sunset..._ And yes, that glorious golden orange sunset poured itself out over the sky, over the island, over the ocean below and echoed the world's beauty. The great hallowed skull of Ookumaiwa was fallen, and its citizens were free of its binding glare. Jed fell to his knees, still so surprised at his relief, and let his sobs be heard. _It's so beautiful...Why am I crying?_ Though he couldn't see, many of the others were crying as well. With the genetic hatred for that building long built up in them their eyes just had to swell from the knowledge that their parents, convicts all, suffered to see that place raised, and now it was gone.

Rez was smoking a cigarette, his hard-earned mark of victory, while Reginald continued to snore beside him. "Oh yeah" Rez said, watching the dust fly. "He wanted to see this, right?"

"Don't bother him" a pirate said, looking down. "He needs sleep more than he needs to see something like this. He'll be just as happy to see the ruins when he wakes up." The pirates all watched the castle fall. Araly kept her mouth covered so her voice was quelled down. Zan sat at the top of the bleachers with a telescope, darting his view from place to place among the ruins, wherever he could find a place unobstructed by dust. Colleen stayed close to Ramone while Kura stayed near the still unconscious Sally to make sure she tried nothing nefarious.

"Bard..." Araly whispered. Her tattoo began glowing, a sign that her emotions were being withheld, and still she began to sob softly. A step down from hysterical wailing, most likely, but the sadness was still the same to her. Harriet watched the chemical reaction on her back and noted silently on its effects.

_Her skin is absorbing the paint. At such a rate it may not only become permanent but directly impede the flow of her nervous system through her back. What she's done to herself may take more extreme measures as it wears down. I can't predict anything good coming from this, but what does this old witch know?_ Harriet took out a long and pointy hat to place upon her head so the sun's rays didn't get into her eyes too much. "I never thought I'd see that crappy old castle fall down, that's for sure..."

0

A great time had passed. The sun's light was now a cool blue. The pirates had blockaded themselves inside the castle walls as the peasants were angrily rioting with pitchforks and torches, chanting to kill them for coming to their island and raising such intolerable hell. Kurateka was taking care of the injured, as was her main job as a nurse, while the more aware nurses that fled the castle through its more secrative routes joined her.

"Zan?" Araly called. "Do you see anything yet?"

"Not a thing" Zan answered, still peering through his telescope. He turned to Birdman, the lookout proper of the crew, and asked him the same. "Anything?"

"Nada" Birdman said. "Captain Bard hasn't come up yet. He might still be inside the castle ruins!"

"What about that chick?" Rez asked, referring obviously to Gretta.

"I don't see her either" Birdman admitted with a hefty tone of frustration and defeat. He lowered his spyglass and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Ugh. Even if seeing is believing, I _can't _help but think Bard survived!"

"Of course he did" Zan said.

"You honestly don't think" Birdman began in disbelief "that there's even the slightest chance he didn't survive!?" Zan lowered his telescope and looked over at Birdman with his cool, steel eyes.

"Of course not" Zan said. "Bard's not the kind of guy to just let a building fall on him and admit defeat! The whole world has to topple on him to properly seal him in the ground. He's just not an average man..." Zan looked down at the other above average man, Ramone Cervantes, and monitored his healing as his insects chewed apart the garden to gain the proper build of bark and grass to reform his lost body parts. So far his wounds were repaired but he was still armless. Colleen helped him eat, holding out rations of bread for his insects to steal and carry into his mouth.

"How is it...?" Colleen asked. Ramone just chewed and looked at the castle.

"Gggggg" Ramone growled. "When's that little bastard coming out?" Colleen held onto her motherly grin and kept feeding Ramone, this time with a spoonful of soup that his insects couldn't carry for him. "He's making me impatient. Doesn't he know who he's worrying?" Ramone chomped the spoon and let one of his beetles eat the head. Colleen looked at her defeated attempt and threw the spoon away.

"He wouldn't stay in there for long" Colleen said, looking back at the castle. "He's not the kind of guy who would disappoint people. At least, not from what I know."

"And whadda you know?" Ramone asked. "You haven't even met him yet."

"No" Colleen admitted, looking at the concern and worry on the crew of Pirates, and especially the concern that kept Araly restlessly pacing around the courtyard. "He just doesn't seem that way." Rez, who staked out near the fountain, was half-asleep already as he waited for his captain to emerge from the broken heap of rock and mortar that he buried himself in.

"Come on" Rez lowed. "Give up the dramatic tension act you bastard. We get it already..."

But throughout the night there was nothing but waiting. The Buster Pirates all waited together, the Ghost Killer Captain and First Mate waited together, the Alchemist supreme waited along side the pirate girl Araly. They all waited, all through the night, until the peasants all stopped their raucous bickering and loathsome chanting and everyone was asleep. Even in their sleep, though, they dreamed of their Captain, all of them waiting even through their sleep for the good news of his survival...

And in that lull of darkness Bard emerged, silently and unstylishly, covering Gretta as they both crawled from the dark ruins that Bard had punched through. His knuckles were bloodied from the task and his bare chest was marred by the dusty marks of struggle.

"Raaaahhhhh....." Bard groaned. He panted and dropped his body just outside the ruins. Gretta made a staggering walk and then elegantly seated herself on the cold night ground.

"Why did that take you so long?" Gretta demanded. "You defeated my father. You're supposed to be strong! How can a man as big as you and as strong as you..." She turned to see if her voice had landed but instead saw a sleeping, snoring boy. Gretta curled her arms around her knees and watched him sleep.

_What a strong, fascinating man_ she thought. _I feel that...he's a reliable man. I should stay with him for a while...but for now, I suppose as it is night, I should sleep._ Gretta laid on the ground, curled up in her own arms, her white hair forming a cloudy pillow for her to lay on.

The coup was over, and the pirates won. Yet another saga comes to a close in the early career of Bard D. Samekawa...


	92. The Great Reawakening

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

In the morning a single pirate stirred amidst the painful chaos and panic that the previous day had brought. He was the first to see the calm ruins of the ruined castle, the rising sun veiled by thin layers of clouds over the distant sea, and he was the first to make the shocking discovery of his own slumbering captain near the edge of the wrecked stone fortress. His mouth fell down and wide, his eyes bulged, and an uncontrolled sliver of snot escaped from his nose.

"C--" he began in a loud stutter that stirred several others. "Captain Bard!?" His shout signaled other to wake in a creaky stir. While one man's lips were pursed and all his fingers wiggling in unprecedented excitement the rest of the crew lazily rose to their feet, rubbed their eyes and stretched away the aching groans and pains of their recovered bodies. Then they saw the man, looked his direction and joined him, and entire crew of imbeciles looking at the far distant billowing black cape on the ground that was their captain.

"**CAPTAIN!!!!"** Their eager shouting awoke the rest of the resting pirates and stirred up a commotion from the newly waking villagers. One stood up and shook his fist, but the years of intentional degradation of health that weakened all the villagers and brainwashed prisoners came over him, and he quickly went back down to sleep in a deep daze with a weary smile.

"Shut up....." Rez groaned on the ground. "Just go charge him, or whatever...." Rez was too out of it to watch his words. He forgot that he was in their path, and at his acting-command order the crew stampeded. Once the footfalls started pounding around him Rez was instantly awake and dodging by squirming between legs and anticipating the stamping of feet all around him, breathless after a minute and safe for once when the last pirate charged over him, the whole fleet kicking up dust as they stormed along for their beloved captain. Rez crawled up to his hands and knees and looked at them in their mad procession with shocked eyes. He looked around and checked himself for any bruises or injuries. Just the pains he expected, all the soreness from the previous day of fighting. Nothing new or unexpected was around him but the weight of his accomplishment measured in pain and fatigue.

He also saw Reginald, whose body had been ignored and paraded on by the pirates, but he seemed unfazed and was snoring pleasantly. Rez stood up with an audible groan and quick gasp of pain as he wavered. He breathed in hard and nearly fell over, but stood up and pressed through the pain with a quick readjustment of his stiff, aching back.

"God, you're a weird old man" Rez said, shaking his head. He looked towards the rising sun in the sky, his face full of hope and wonder, his mind set on a much further goal in the endless horizon. That place, a mystical place that he'd only ever heard of, that lied beyond an impassible wall. Looking over the ruins of the castle it felt like that wall was already halfway torn apart, like the way was truly cleared! That's when he saw it. Rez, after a long youth of hope and dreams, all of them falling under the title of profession and duty, had seen the pathway to the place of dreams and nightmares, the New World. The beaten path laid by the strong heels and soles of few mighty men laid before him, and in the dirt he could see the footprints of the man who opened that impossible path for him, boots that were black and worn from constant combat use.

_Just follow me_ he said, a vision in Rez's eyes. _We'll be in battles a hundred times bigger and fight guys a thousand times stronger! But we'll never lose! **I'll** never lose!!!_ Rez scoffed and leaned to the side with his hands in his pockets. The sweat from the intensity of fighting was still there and his pockets were moist from the remnant of fatigue. "He would say something like that, wouldn't he? That reckless idiot...." Rez turned and made a brisk walk for the bleachers. Many more people were there, sleeping off all the battle-worn tiredness and stress of the previous day's fighting. Meanwhile the Buster crew continued to rush the sleeping Bard jacket on the ground. Their noses were trailing with snot and their eyes with tears, some more than others, but a jubilant joy resounded all around as they charged forward.

"Captain BAAAARD!!!" They cried. Once they got close enough to rumble the ground the jacket moved and a cloudy head of white hair rose up. Gretta clutched the jacket close to her shoulders and got up on her knees, looking at the band of pirates ll shock-white and frozen in their tracks.

"What?" she asked. "You were expecting that boy, weren't you?" The crew fell, very slowly, and began a muffled sob. The bigger, oafish men were biting their lips and quivering while the jaded men just rubbed their eyes in aggravation.

"Dooohhh...." one burly man moaned. "Our poor captain fought himself to death, didn't he?"

"Now he's been reincarnated" another oafish man began "as a weak-framed little girl!" Gretta just stared, flat-faced as usual, letting a cool breeze flutter her hair.

_This kind of stupidity isn't even realistic_ she thought as she heard a group of grown men sobbing.

"He's still our captain...." one said through his tears, "even if he's now a girl!"

"That's right!" another proclaimed. "We'll all pull together and raise him to be our charismatic leader once again!" Marco jammed his foot into a meaty head and his fellow older crew mates just groaned and looked down with aggressive pity on the stupid brutes.

"You're making us look bad!" Marco roared. He turned to Gretta and saw that she had already stood up and was looking away, towards the ruins. "Girl, where's our captain at?" Gretta barely acknowledged him. She was too busy staring into the horizon, at the back of the courageous man who freed her from a prison of life. Marco looked her way, followed by his wiser crew mates, and then finally the stupidest man looked ahead and saw, against the shine of the rising sun, the wide back of Bard D. Samekawa who stood atop the tallest of the ruins.

"**BAAAARD!!!!!"** the pirates called. They began their rush anew, except the wise and tired pirates who stayed behind and watched Gretta. Marco had his arms crossed and wore an arrogant smile on his face. He saw Gretta with a fawning shine around her, her hands clasped to her chest and the wind finally blowing the mighty cape of Bard's off her thin, pale shoulders.

"He seems like a good leader" she said.

"Believe it or not" Marco said "he's shaping up to be one. We'll get him there..." Gretta continued looking on in a dreamy daze.

"How much help would one person need...?" she asked, very quietly, to herself. Marco caught it though. His sharp ears for information didn't let slip such a vital little remark. He smiled at her knowing she wouldn't see him and made a light chuckle. The men had reached Bard at last and clamored around the wreckage and debris to get to him. He stood tall on top of a pillar of stone that hadn't crumbled and fallen apart like the rest of the castle around it, like a statue on a pedestal.

"Captain Bard!" an overly eager pirate called. "Captain Bard! Thank goodness! We thought you were dead for a while there!"

"Not me!" another said, shoving the first away. "I always knew you were alive!" The men gathered around Bard, who stood in utter silence, waiting for him to reply, and suddenly a sharp breeze knocked the sleeping boy down where he grunted briefly and went promptly to snoring.

"HE'S DEAD!!!!" one called out in shock.

"No!" another remarked. "He's asleep!"

"Damn!" one called as he took Bard up in his arm to elevate his body from the hard, sharp ruins. "Now we have two comatose captains! What will become of us on the Grand Line!?"

"We're screwed!" one frantic man shouted. "Cursed and screwed!!!!"

* * *

It took a while for the panic to die down. In the end Kurateka took to caring for Bard in his unconscious state and lectured the rowdy pirates about the effects of fatigue and over-energetic output of stress on the human body, although she admitted that Bard's body wasn't entirely human by her standards.

"He's incredibly fit" Kura mentioned as she checked his arms. They were rubbery and loose and smooth with the layer of sweat that hadn't yet dripped away. "He must have something born into him, a natural athleticism in his genetics. Add onto that the fact that he spent most of his youth practicing martial arts and doing weight training and he would naturally have a body strong as steel and tough as iron."

"Isn't iron weaker than steel?" Araly asked. Kura shot her a hot glare under her bandages that somehow found its way out. Araly just looked away and sipped some tea nonchalantly.

"In any case" Kura continued "this is all wonderful in the contemporary, but I emphasize temporary. This is terrible for his longevity and overall health, of course."

"How so?" Araly asked.

"It's obvious" Zan said. He was up and walking, using a branch from a strong tree in the garden, one that had fallen over during the fighting, as a crutch to speed up his hobbling. "His body overworks itself and drains from the reserves of energy. Care to continue, Doctor?"

"When the stomach growls" Kurateka began "it means that the gastric acids inside are slowly digesting the tissue and substance of the organs around them, meaning the the body is in effect eating itself to sustain itself. That's why people who rarely eat are so skinny, not because of diet but because starving themselves leads to a self-cannibalism. This is a similar process. The nutrients and proteins in Bard's body are only optimal for a limited time when he fights. He exerts so much energy, so quickly, that his body can barely keep up. After the amount of fighting he had to go through just now his body would have run out of natural resources a long time ago. His muscles were receiving no acids or energies after a certain point but they worked regardless and drew from the emergency reserves of energy, kicking his internal organs into overdirve, exhausting his body past a safe limit."

"That sounds like him, alright" Araly said. "I'm surprised he didn't die, honestly. We hadn't eaten very much yesterday."

"I doub tsimply eating will fix what's wrong with him right now" Kura said. "He needs medical attention at this point. Supplements are a mandatory, a slow-drip IV is a possibility."

"What about surgery?" Zan asked.

"Unethical" Kura said. "Unless I had an extra adrenal gland to put in his body so he could fight unimpeded for an extra half hour in an emergency over-limit case, operating would do nothing for him at all."

"So" Araly said, a slight somberness in her voice, "we have to wait?"

"Yes" Kura said, looking over to her row blanket-covered patients. "Unfortunately, that's all we can do right now..."

"So what about food?" Zan asked.

"The garden isn't just for show" Kura said. "There are plenty of vegetables and fruits and herbs to eat. Protein-wise, well, I suppose we could eat the bears if we get desperate but getting them without encountering resistance from the plebeians will be difficult."

"Irrelevant" Reginald said with a growl as he sat up from a matted mattress of grass and shrubs that Kura had prepared for him as a bed. His body was in the worst shape of anyone's as his constant constrain as a demented psychotic warrior in a dark dungeon had deteriorated the health of his joints. Only through the drugs that addled his sanity given to him in his meals could he function at full capacity, and now the withdrawal was revealing the truth of his age behind his youthful cloak. "We aren't eating the bears.....at all!"

"Fair enough" Kura said with a sigh. "I suppose we could try and salvage what was in the medical wing if we can get some volunteers to go digging." She turned to the bleachers currently covered with pirates and castle staff. The strongest pirates raised their hands without a moment of extra thought. Some of the stronger-looking guards in tattered armor and beaten faces raised their arms as well. Zan's arm was up, and it was the only arm that Kura turned her whole attention to. "Hey, no! You're still recovering!" Zan pulled a cigarette hidden in his leather-soled boot out and lit it up with a match he struck on the ground. "No smoking! Do you know what it does to your insides!?" Zan took a drag and blew it out, ignoring her harping speech.

"Just chill out a bit" Zan said, acting cool and composed. "I can phase through solid matter, so long as it doesn't contain a lot of salt. Those walls in the castle are almost completely pure of salt. It's a breeze for me to pass through them. I'm the best guy here for going through ruins to find treasure because there aren't any obstacles for me to have to move or power through. It's all completely smooth for me." Zan waited for her rebuttal, sure of himself that there would be one, but she just sighed in defeat and cradled her arms across her stomach.

"Alright" she said "but I'm not counting on you to carry back the boxes and crates worth of supplies buried under who knows how much solid stone all the way back here. Take some strong men with you for that."

"We'll follow you, Zan!" a Buster pirate called. Zan got up and started a cane-assisted walk over to the ruins, a loyal gathering in tow. Rez passed them and gave Zan a proper, cool nod of greeting. Zan nodded back, tilting his head upwards, while the pirates waved and pumped their fists for Rez. He marched all the way back, sat on the bleachers and gave a heavy sigh.

"How're things over here?" he asked.

"That depends" Kura said. "Everyone is alive, which is good, but I doubt most of them will wake up in 24 hours, which is bad without the proper equipment. Rez sighed and laid down across the rows of seats. Araly finished her tea and stood over him.

"What about the rioting?" she asked. Rez had been staking out on duty, watching the patterns of the people outside, ready and willing to prevent an attack with the threat of immediate violence from his guns. He didn't have the power in him to actually fight, but he knew the people would be more inclined to retreat against such a threat once it came up, rather than face it head on despite their advantageous numbers. Rez sat up with his arms rested on the seating and grinned.

"They left already" he said. "They all went back to the village, it seems. Some kid was shouting at them earlier, and the next thing I knew they were marching right back. They must be on the down slope for their town by now..."

"That's odd" Kura said. "They may be weak but the people always show up in droves and legions when the time is appropriate. It's an unlikely event for them to abandon the castle so helplessly."

"Don't believe me?" Rez asked. "Just climb the stairs and take a look, sister."

"How dare you insinuate my disbelief!?" she shouted suddenly. "I believe you and I'll prove it by staying right here and doing nothing!" With that she turned on her heel and huffed loudly.

"What about all the people?" Araly asked. Kura's protest had been effortlessly broken and her bandages dropped along with her distending jaw as she gaped widely in embarrassed shock.

"Leave it to me" she said, turning around with one eye revealed, sparkling and crystalline with a wink and a blow kiss on her index and middle fingers. She made a frenzied skipping along the row of resting patients and began a light-speed check of temperatures and vital statistics with only her hands and the archaic devices at her immediate disposal. Araly sighed in the grief of watching such a grown woman fly off in such panic while Rez just chuckled and coughed a bit.

"You alright?" Araly asked. Rez nodded and coughed into his fist. "Just checking." Araly went back to her relaxed pose, leaving Rez to cough and glare at her through the sides of his eyes, waiting for her to actually help.

"Dammit!" Rez shouted. "Get me some water!" Araly smiled and skipped off, fetching a ladle full of water for him. Rez cleared his throat and drank the gardening water quickly, cringing at its staleness. "Thank you" he said. Araly nodded at him and sat. "So, about the tattoo. You're okay with it now?"

"Nothing worth worrying about" Araly said, patting the height of her back. "Harriet said it's temporary anyway. After a while the ink will pass through my system and I'll be the regular Araly you all knew before."

"Damn" Rez said. "And here I was looking forward to an adventure sans-bitching."

"What was that?" Araly said, getting angry. Though, under the subduing effects of her alchemical tattoo her anger was much less aggressive and consisted of only a pouting lip and furrowed brow. Rez, however, still felt his back getting hot as he turned away and nervously cleared his throat. "I'll be waiting for an apology in the garden!"

"Huh?" Rez said. Araly was already up and walking, right past the 'infirmary' and into the garden that hadn't been blasted by battle, lush and vibrant with a sullen dark-hued beauty. "Wait a sec, what?" Rez abandoned his worry and avoided confusion by prompting himself to rest. He laid straight on the bleachers and shut his eyes, his tired and overworked eyes, so he could rest under the fleeting cloud cover shade...

* * *

Araly walked through the garden, minding her head of low-lying branches, and took in all the tranquility that it had to offer. Most of the plants were over fed and limp, their soggy leafs drooping down sadly towards the ground. A lifetime of regal care in a foreign soil with the mountainous shadow of a castle always blocking the light at some point in the year made the garden unhealthy and forlorn. The plants could be crisper and the greens all brighter, but thanks to the now clumpy pile of brick rubble, those plants would never get such a chance. One of the towers had already fallen on a section of the garden where a birdbath was set up, even though there were very few birds to visit it.

Araly continued her walk regardless, calming her mind of all its worries, and eventually ran into the silken-skinned Gretta sitting on a stone bench grown over with moss, gazing at the fruitless trees in what was once her yard. Araly was apprehensive to engage her but did so nonetheless, sitting beside her only to have the regal princess inch away very suddenly.

"How are you doing?" Araly asked. Gretta sighed.

"I came back here to avoid those questions..." she said.

"I'm sorry" Araly said, recovering herself from a bad intent. "I'll ask you something different then."

"....?" Gretta looked over. She hadn't thought about giving the girl serious acknowledgment until just now, when she tapped her chin to think of a question that would honestly lighten the burden of thought that was on her head. Araly suddenly had it and turned to her with two fingers up.

"Bananas or oranges?" she asked. Gretta blinked, wondering for a moment of this was a question or a spontaneous and incidental statement. "Well? Which to you prefer?"

"Uh...bananas" Gretta said. Araly leaned back and sat straight, occupying the opposite side of the bench that Gretta was using. She nodded with her arms crossed and her eyebrows cocked.

"Ah, I see" she said.

"What?" Gretta asked. "You know, princess or not now, I still have the command of my staff and a very steady bow hand. You'd better think very carefully about whatever you're going to say..." Araly took a moment and raised her head. Gretta couldn't see the diligence in her face as she thought over her words exactly, but she was curious about what Araly was taking such a long pause for. Finally, with her hand raised and finger pointed up, Araly spoke.

"You're just a kid after all" Araly said. Gretta's flat face had fallen into desperate curiosity, and she leaned forward to catch her inquisitor's attention.

"What do you mean?" Gretta asked. "How is my preference a judgmental statement on what kind of person I am? Tell me." Araly hopped up to her feet and turned with her hands held together behind her back.

"You like sweet things" Araly said "more than bitter things. That means you only like what you like, and that's all you're willing to try!"

"I can eat other things" Gretta said, trying to defend herself. "But, what's wrong with that? Surely, you prefer sweet things some times as well!" Araly laughed and moved around, walking in front of Gretta, keeping herself loosely tied to her attention.

"Me?" Araly began. "I can eat anything. Whatever taste it has, I can eat and enjoy it. That's what separates me from a lot of other girls. I can even eat things that most people can't tolerate, and some people say I can eat poison too." Gretta's eyes started to sparkle.

"Are you...a demon too?" she asked. Araly looked down at her, curiously, then waved it off with a scoff.

"Of course not" Araly said in dejection. "I'm just a strong eater. But I also have adult tastes. It doesn't matter to me if something is bitter or too gooey. If I know it's good for me I can eat it. I doubt that's how you are. Just think back a bit and you'll see just how much growing up you have to do." Gretta stood up. She felt abused, even beaten by her words, and she made her feelings apparent with a hot glare through her red eyes.

"Why are you bothering me with this?" Gretta asked. Araly tapped a finger to her mouth and gave Gretta a sweet smile.

"You know where there's a lot of really good, diverse food, right?" Araly asked. Gretta was blank faced. Araly just smiled at her and continued her walk around the perimeter of the ruined castle, looking at the scenery, marveling at the view of the sea she had. She left Gretta in that hidden grove with a shadow of doubt cast over her bright form from the clouds in the sky, and she looked to the sea for an answer.

"Diverse...food...?" As Gretta's mind pieced together the cryptic puzzle a smile came to her face, and that smile led itself to a scoff and a walk back through the garden. "How boringly predictable of her, lecturing me about my taste. I'm a princess. I can request any food I want and shove it to the side if I don't favor it. That's the point....but I wonder what class gets to taste the most diverse foods?" Gretta started swaying her pace a bit, clasping her hands at her lap and swinging her arms. "Perhaps, that boy can tell me where I can go..." Gretta continued to walk through the brush of her once gallant and regal garden, looking in all directions at the bland similarity of color and structure, and she became bored very quickly.

"I want to experience such things..." she said, letting her mind drift off and away to better places with better climes, or worse climbs. Places where even the weather was different, where the rain was thicker, slower, and white that coated the ground by the inches and feet in a chilly, powdery bliss...

_I want to go there_ she thought. And as she walked she thought more and more with her eyes at a steely squint and her finger lightly brushing her chin in her deep stage of thinking...


	93. Working Together to Make a New Day

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The sun was shining brightly at the top of the sky, at the apex of its fall-season run a little before noon, and the villagers were up and weakly rioting outside the fence. No one was strong enough to climb the wall, nor rattle the heavy iron bars of the gate, and not a single person was able to withstand the steel glaring of the strongest Buster Pirate crewmen standing watch over the dark iron hinged gate. They carried on nonetheless, supporting each other with swift food runs from the village and back, using twenty people in a marathon baton pass of bread so that five could eat and be well. They were weak but determined, and the Buster Pirates gave them the benefit of humor for their determination. They even went so far as to push them to do better.

"Come on!" the wide-jawed pirate called out. "Can't you do better then that, you weak-kneed little pansie-boy?" The boy he shouted at stood on quivering, weakened knees and fell over to scuttle away on his hands and feet back into the crowd. The pirate rose back up and crossed his arms victoriously. _Ah, damn! He really __**was**__ weak-kneed! I didn't want to scare him away like that!_

"Shut thy mouth, brutish scoundrel!" a woman roared.

"We villagers" a man proclaimed "shall send upon thee the full wrath that thou hast incurred by killing our king! We doth swear our allegiance to our great liege, who is no more."

"Oh, woe to our fallen king" a woman called up from the crowd.

"Kill the heretics!" another shouted.

"We shall drive ye back to the swarthy ocean yond, never to return you to our land again!!!" the man shouted, pointing hard through the gate up the pirate's nose. The taunting pirate's comrade leaned over and whispered to him.

"Great job, idiot."

"Outta my face!" he hissed back with a demonically twisted rage face. He reset it and glared down at the villagers with his mouth parted and fangs bared. "You think you're tough? Climb this fence and shout me down man-to-man! I don't think you've got it in you! I don't think you're strong enough to even make it up past the first wrung here!" He leaned forward and pointed to a horizontal bar welded across the vertical iron spears that made the gate. It was about four feet from the ground. The man daring the challenge was over four feet tall by well over a foot, but even so he was one of the stick-armed mass completely deprived of the essentials for human growth over the years.

Still, the man tried. He grabbed the bar and tried desperately to pull himself up. His veins bulged out of his skin and against the thin cloth of his shirt. His face went flush red as he pulled his weight up with a heavy press and reached for the next bar up another four feet. He managed to climb up onto the first bar and held the second one. Now his weight dropped down and he forced himself into a weak pull-up with the bar. His legs kicked and pedaled through the air until they caught the first bar again and he jumped up, going chin above the second bar before losing his grip and falling onto his back.

He lay on the ground, eyes open and mouth agape in defeat, and was helped up by several villagers at once. The pirates had watched the act with the serious intent of showing him up by watching him tumble down after grabbing the second bar, but they were so damn impressed with his spirit that their eyes sparkled in admiration.

_He's a true man_ one thought.

_Fighting against all odds_ the other began _despite the pain and defeat, trying and trying again no matter what against a true force, that's what a man is!!!_ Then their emotions sank a good sharp grade as they realized just what kind of men they were being.

_We're the villains here, aren't we?_ They thought in tandem. They turned to each other with worrisome frowns. Realizing they were sharing the same sentiment they drooped their mouths and their brows, looking so terribly sad that their presence echoed a demonic appearance and stirred the villagers to riot even louder and more fiercely than before. The pirates were overcome with a heavy air of depression and nearly wept. _We're scum....._

Away from the gate, near the edge of the garden and all along the bleachers, the recently recovered guards of the castle sat drinking warm, sterile tea with the healed pirates that had just fought them earlier. The mood was calm, possibly even complacent, but not as gentle as any casual group gathering would be from either one of the two groups. Now they sat together, the groups intermixed and spotted across the bleachers, and they were calm.

"Good" Kurateka said, observing the scene with her chest puffed out proudly and her hands on her hips. "As always, I've pulled through with my astounding medical skills! Not a single complaint of ache or injury all day! YEAH!" She swept her hand out and brought it up to her chin, pressing her thumb and grinning arrogantly with a sparkle in her eye. "I'm pretty damn awesome, aren't I?"

"Your chest is still a lie!" Rez called from the bleachers. Kurateka jumped in shock and clutched her chest, turning around with her one exposed eye, white and angled with rage.

"SCREW YOU!!!" she roared. "I'd like to see what all you've done to help out, useless gunman!!!" Rez smirked and settled his head down into his arms. She glared at him with heated contempt, holding her breasts away from his abusive eyes. A pirate came to her with a crate and laid it carefully down at her feet. The boards of the wooden box were blasted and shattered, and within only a few of the many bottles had stayed intact.

"How's that?" the pirate asked. Kura took one of the bottles and looked it over carefully, holding it up to the sun and swishing the deep-purple liquid around briefly. "Sorry, but most of the stuff is coming up totally smashed or broken. Right now that's the only one Zan got that wasn't completely shattered and leaking."

"That's fine" Kura said. "One bottle of this can do us well enough." She uncorked the bottle with a pop, turned away to hid her face and guzzled it down in a quick, trained swig. The pirate held his hand out, clutching the air with a shadow under each eye.

"Uhhhhh" he groaned, "just what was that, Doctor?" Kura turned and brushed drops of the lingering purple liquid from her lucious lips, hidden still by her bandages and tossed away the empty bottle.

"A potion of eternal youth" she said seductively. She added a wink to seal her alluring taunt.

"Aren't you forty or something?" Rez called, gazing up at the sky lazily. "Jeez, act your age, old bag."

"SHUT UP!!!" Kurateka screeched. "I'LL CUT YOU, KID!!!!"

* * *

A phantasmal hand melded out of the stone wall and pressed against the surrounding debris. Following it was the triangular point and melted face that rapidly gained detail and feature as it left the solid-surface it phased through. Zan pulled up a crate full of liquid with him through the collapsed stone wall. He sighed and grinned as he stepped up out of the solid ruin and posed himself at its apex, a great mountain that was once a turret atop a tower overlooking the entire island. He handed the crate down to the line of working pirates who passed it all the way to the first man willing to run it back. He took off, bounding over the wreckage and keeping his footing as solid and consistent as possible over the incredibly uneven terrain.

"At least" Zan began "it's a nice day for this kind of work." He looked up to the sky and watched the clouds roll by. He could see the detailed, minute rolling forms they took and felt the calm wind pushing them slowly breeze against his back. The rocks and rubble under him seemed just as soft and malleable as those clouds to him, just as easy to pass through and swim in as any water he was ever in as a child. He grinned nostalgically before hearing the grunts and cluttering of debris to his side. The stronger pirates were sifting through the heavy stones, searching for salvageable things, and one found a dented but not inoperable IV pole.

"Good find" Zan said. "Run that back to Kura. I'll try to find some empty, intact packs while I'm down."

"Right" the pirate agreed. Zan raised his arms up and swiftly descended through the solid stones once more, leaving the pirates who watched to gape in awe for a moment out of their time.

"That amazes me" one said "no matter how many times I see it."

"I know what you mean" the other agreed. "Devil Fruit users are pretty amazing people, aren't they?" As they talked Zan swam beneath them, far down through the mighty hill of ruins and rubble, searching in the open nooks and crannies of dusty, stagnant air for useful, unbroken items to bring back up with him. He looked around through the stone walls and into the wider, saved spaces, took deep breathes in and out, then swam on through the rock, moving his arms and kicking his legs imitating the motions of an un-cursed swimmer perfectly.

_Just how much stuff did this woman store in here?_ He wondered wordlessly. _I know it's a hospital wing, but so far I haven't found enough for even a singe person. The best I can hope for now is to find some metal-reinforced nook or closet where the most important stuff we kept in case of an attack. She's at least smart enough to keep some storage for her really important items._ Suddenly Zan's head slammed against a solid surface that was impassible to him. He quickly shook himself well again and found an exit near the object. He melded out from the wall and lowered himself to the ground, still rubbing his head and grimacing at the structure. He had found a safe, that was certain, but the collapse of the castle hadn't jarred it open.

_What's it made of?_ Zan wondered, conserving his limited breath. He walked toward it and placed his hand on the smooth, cold surface. He pressed hard and watched as his hand went slowly through it. He could hardly get his pal into the metal before he was stopped entirely and felt sapped of his strength. _Sea Stone layering, eh?_ He thought. He pulled his hand back, leaning backward and nearly falling over himself in a stumble, but recovered and stayed locked onto the object. He grinned and made a jump straight up. He traveled straight for the surface as fast as he could, not stopping for breath, and arrived with a moaning gasp of air.

"Zan?" a pirate noticed. He saw the falling stone-colored skin of the mud-man figure that was Zan and watched him in horror rise up to his full form and kick away the loose, small rubble around him.

"Hey!" Zan called to the pirates. "There's a huge container directly below here I can't phase through. Can I get a digging crew quick?"

"Sure thing, Zan" a pirate said. He abandoned his job of turning over rocks and debris to seem busy and rushed in with a whole league of men behind him. "How far deep is it?" he asked as he began shifting rocks and chunk around. Zan slid down the side of the pile and winced as he landed on his bad leg.

"Ah, in terms of exact meters and depth?" Zan said, rubbing his head. "I can't say for sure, but it seems about twelve measures of my full body multiplied by the accelerated rate of my travel at approximately eighteen meters per minute of vertical travel which lasted all of sixteen seconds...so, somewhere in there." Zan looked at the pirate he was talking to. His eyes were cocked in different directions and his mouth was agape and drooling. His brain had broken. Zan cocked his eyebrow and slapped the sense back into the pirate.

"Eh?" he said in a panicked stutter. "So, um, where was I?" Zan pointed to the mound.

"It's huge and metal with a spinning combination lock on the door" Zan described. "Dig until you find it.

"Right!" the pirate said with a flexing salute. Zan brought his his fist up to his forehead and flexed his arm. They departed for their respective duties, the pirate to dig and Zan to simply pace about without another thing to do. He let his injured leg phase partly into whatever he walked across to give it a break in his walking and made his way slowly, leisurely, for the garden.

"Before I do anything else extraneous" Zan spoke as he readied himself to equip a cigarette, "I should get something to eat. I've been at this for a while." Zan struck a match against his leather harness top and lit his cigarette with a puff and a drag. He continued walking with his hands in his pockets and looked skyward at the rolling white clouds and the sparkling blue sky. "Maybe a nap would help me out too. It's been too long since I got to sleep under the sun on such a nice day...." So the Revolutionary assassin wandered off for a peaceful rest that was well deserved.

* * *

Gretta calmly paced herself through the garden, walking daintily in regal strides through the rows of bushes and plants and stalks of herbs. She wove elegantly through the patches and batches of barely-visible, very edible plant-life that was meticulously cared for most of its life by the gardening staff and maids and servants of the castle. Now the ground was bulged and up-heaved from the collapse of the colossal castle built so deep into the soft foundation of the ground. The imbalance that gave way to the castle walls also gave heaving thrusts of ground and dirt around the castle's outer boundaries. Many cracks and fissures had opened up from the tremendous crashing. Through one of those cracks Gretta saw the roots greedily clawing through the dirt of a powerful potato patch, like a colony of worms as thick and strong as fingers.

"So much mystery under the dirt" Gretta said. "I've never seen plants growing like that. They always came to me cooked and sliced and fully prepared. How interesting..." Gretta continued walking away and saw a tree split in half down the middle. She awed silently at that for moment then walked past it without a second periphery glance. "I didn't know trees could do that. Interesting...." As Gretta continued her lonesome analysis of the world she used to live so close to, she came upon the border of the pirate camp, just within an eye-shot of the astute doctoress Kurateka. Not wanting to be spotted or bothered, Gretta hid behind a nearby tree and leaned out stealthily.

There was a low rumbling of air near her. She became disturbed by a grave discomfort at her back, like the hot breath of an invisible monster stalking up behind her. She turned around slowly, keeping her pride and cold glare with her, and saw a man sleeping in a chair with his arms crossed in the shadiest area under the tree. Gretta's face fell flat for a moment and she turned herself around to him.

"Look at this" Gretta said. "While everyone is going around, working and carrying on, some pathetic soul has the gall to sleep so easily in the shade of a tree." Gretta leaned forward and examined the man's sleeping face. Some nerve in his arm twitched and and he rose his tired face up and began loudly snoring. She backed away and observed, hoping she hadn't woken him up. He continued to snore, utterly comatose. Gretta snapped her fingers at his face and leaned in again, snapping as fast as she could with the one hand.

"Wake up, you lazy good-for-naught" she said. "I command it." She kept snapping, her lips parted and her eyes flat in aggravation. "Wake up. Hey. Hey!" Gretta stopped herself short of shouting to keep her cover from being blown. She looked around and spotted a small stick from the branches of the tree lying on the ground. She took the stick and placed it at a perfect balance on the sleeping man's nose. She watched it bob up and down with the motions of his face and then saw the man's nose twitch reflexively. The stick was knocked loose of its balance and fell into his mouth. He coughed and gagged and shut his mouth. A moment later he spat the chewed remains of the stick out and at Gretta's feet. She backed away and looked with worrisome disgust at the man.

"What kind of man fights in his sleep?" she wondered. She looked around, a fist clenched up to her mouth, and dashed off for a moment. She returned, stood over the man's face for a while, working things over and under and into each other, and then departed with a full mask of sticks and leaves and rocks carefully balanced on the center-point of the man's nose. "At least he's entertaining..." Gretta walked away, keeping to the shadows along the wall to stay unnoticed, and ducked into a thick veil of ivy leaves. She brushed through them and exited the thick walls of the castle courtyard through a secret hole she remembered to exist.

Maxwell snorted and moaned. He had finally regained the semi-consciousness available to ascertain the conditions of the world he slept through. He was cool, but felt warmth around him so he assumed he was in the shade. His face was unnaturally itchy. He wanted to move his arm to scratch at it, but his condition required total stasis and he couldn't move.

…_........itchy_ he thought. _...help. Someone, please help. _Maxwell was left there in the shade by his pirate comrades. He wasn't found and helped until much later....

And meanwhile, down in the grove of thick forests built along the salty marsh of land and alongside the cave-speckled clif walls of the great island, Marco and a select few from the whole crew arrived once more at their 'docked' ship. After a thorough inspection of all sides of the gigantic Galleon, Marco nodded his head and gathered up his handy crewmen at the bow of the ship wedged into the tight bank of sludge and dirt.

"Alright" Marco said with a wide smile and a heroic pose, one hand at his hip and the other glaring a thumb-up to the men, "we're not going anywhere, guys!" They just scowled and seethed in a silent disdainful disgust. Marco started wiggling his thumb, trying to get someone to bite, and agitated the horde of men even further.

"You're an ass, Marco" one pirate said.

"We came here to try and figure out a solution" another slack-jawed meat-head noted, "not listen to your sarcasm! Get bent, you bandana-headed old man!"

_Whoops_ Marco thought, his pose frozen with nervousness. _Looks like I shook things up a bit too much._

"At least be serious about this" another man said patronizingly. Marco sank his head down in defeat and his arm swung numb to his side.

_Bard wouldn've laughed with me_ Marco thought.

"For now" one pirate wearing dreadlocks began, "let's just try and dig it out. We've got a lot of boat to break free and not a lot of cover to do it in."

"Should we get more of the guys to help out?" the slack-jawed one asked. The dreaclock'd one cupped his chin in his fist and thought for a second.

"Yeah" he decided. "It'd be a good idea to get as many of us in on this as possible."

"Mayhap we can assist thee?" a voice called from the trees. The Buster Pirates all turned with a start and struck unarmed combat poses reflexively.

"Who's there?" Marco shouted, taking the front line with his fists up. A group of men wearing black overcoats and belt-buckled felt hats walked out from the treeline. Their overcoats parted to reveal their bodies bound up by their tight clothing. They were men of wide, strong build and sported thick, work-hardy arms and legs. Many of them had rough stubble beards and a healthy blush to their cheeks, and all of them had a glimmering in their eyes of raw determination and distinguished honor.

"I dare speak for us all" one deep, gentle-voiced man began "when I say that we owest thou a debt of gratitude. The king Rupert Lioncrest was not the hero many though him to be."

"Certainly he was no 'Great King' at all" another said. The others of his group nodded in agreement. Marco shifted his eyes curiously and lowered his guard. The others followed suit and just stood as neutrally as they could.

"So" Marco began, "you're honestly here to help us?"

"We might ask of thee a greater favor than that" the speaker said. "May we pardon so much as to...ask to join thy cast of men and take with ye to the great, open sea?" Marco was stunned. He hadn't expected such an outright, or proper, proclamation to join a pirate crew ever in his life. Most people knew the dangers of life on the Grand Line, and only those with the reckless and lifeless ability to abandon all they knew they knew and had in their life as civilians would be crazy as hell enough to undertake the daunting journeys on the Pirate's Graveyard ocean. Still, faced with such an important decision weighed solely on his shoulders, Marco took himself to task and thought as Bard would, even growing a wide and pleasant smile as he looked up at the men in their line.

"There's always room" Marco said "in the Buster Pirates. Welcome aboard!" The men were taken aback in happiness. Some even began to tear up and wipe away the water with supremely happy grins. The dreadlock'd pirate nudged Marco in the back and leaned in to whisper to him.

"Actually" he said, "we're just about out of food for the lot of us already on board." Marco's nostrils flared and his eyes shot wide open. To keep his mouth from tearing his jaws as it started creaking even wider in his shock of surprise, he bit his lips into his mouth and sucked them into place.

"I hope you have a plan" the slack-jawed one said with a cocky grin. Marco just whined and kept his messed-up face out of nervousness.

"Thank you greatly, kind sirs!" the men in the group shouted.

"We're ever so greatful" another called. "Thank you so very much!" Marco's mind stopped working at some point. He was so nervous he stood shock-still and unconscious for a while...


	94. Revolution, Buster Pirate Style

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The evening came all too quickly. The rioters went away with their fists shaking and their torches flashing in the darkness, vowing with curses and fanciful-dialects to return with an abundance of fury to rain down upon the pirate's heads. The guards, pirates, and all the castle staff unaffected by the mind-warping drugs the citizens regularly partook all had the same looks of worry and pity. They worried for their health in fighting against them and pitied their feeble bodies for the constant effort against totally impossible odds. The Buster Pirates, led now by Rez and Araly, gathered themselves around a bonfire built near the broken statue in the greatly cracked courtyard.

"Alright" Rez said, beginning the discussion, "we need to figure out a way to get off this island."

"I talked to Kurateka" Araly said. "Apparently it takes a whole season here for a regular log to set, so even if we leave we'd be at the mercy of the Grand Line without a proper log set."

"How long is a season then?" Zan asked. "Three or so months?"

"That's way too long to hold out here" Rez said. "We barely have any supplies at all, and if we're banned from hunting bears in the woods our only source of meat is going to be from the sea."

"Fishing will be dangerous" a pirate figures "with those villagers around to chase us away."

"Our main concern" Zan said "is to get the ship out of the marsh before it gets damaged. I've heard from the Ghost Killer Pirates that their ship fell apart in the marsh after about two weeks from the over-saturation of salt. It weakens the hull and keel of the boat, then the tide comes in and adds to it, washing away pulp from the wood until the boat's base just falls straight apart." The crew had fallen silent. They hadn't heard of this before now, and never assumed anything bad happening to their boat other than it being grounded in a salty marsh. Zan took his spent cigarette from his mouth and tossed it into the fire. "What? You didn't know?"

"This is bad" Rez said. "We need to get the ship out of there ASAP. The longer we wait the more damage we'll accumulate, and with a hull that big it'll take days, if not weeks, to repair anything well enough to stay afloat in the Grand Line."

"It can't be that bad" Araly said. "The hull is pretty durable, if you remember. Bard can't even crack it."

"It is pretty hard" Zan agreed. "Even for my abilities, density makes objects hard to pass through, and I usually have to press pretty damn hard to get through the hull."

"Well that's useless" Rez said. "It doesn't matter if the hull's dense or particularly hard or not, we still have to fix it if it gets past a certain point of disrepair to keep going."

"Well at least we've got some new help" Marco said. "Those guys who joined us were former Paladins with that Argent Fist sect. They've got plenty of strength, stamina, and most importantly loyalty."

"Where are they now?" Rez asked.

"Sleeping" Marco said. "They dug a trench around the entire length and width of the hull so we can get started on getting the ship out to sea tomorrow."

"We can't wait forever" Rez said. He stood up suddenly. "Listen. We have to stay proactive. If we're here for three months we're going to have to get used to plenty of intolerable crap. First off, Bard's still bedridden, so we can't very well depend on him to fight for us or help us until he's up and well again. It's great we have new crew members but they're still under the effects of those drugs that screw with their minds. Everyone is on this island. We can't trust that they'll be loyal to us when they come out of that perpetual stupor after they've been at sea for so long."

"Speaking of the drugs" Zan said, standing up as well, "that's really the only problem we've yet to resolve."

"Hey, sit down" Rez calmly demanded.

"All the villagers" Zan continued "are still unknowingly swaying to the hand of a dead puppeteer. They don't know, and haven't found out yet, just what they're doing to themselves by drinking the tainted water and eating their poisoned food."

"Are you serious?" Marco asked. The pirate crowd was abuzz with sincerity and concern. They had heard from the direct sources of both Reginald and Kurateka of the conspiracy testing that the unwilling, unknowing people had undergone for the last twenty years. Still, the fact that they hadn't yet stopped it after all their efforts of fighting gave them a tremendous shock.

'What do we do!?' 'How can we help?' 'Dammit! Fighting's all we're good at in the end...' 'Can't we sleep in the boat tonight?' 'We skipped dinner again today.' 'My feet are numb.' Such were the mixed, extremely varied reactions from the crew. Rez took them all in, ignoring some of them, and began to think and plan.

_What should we do in this kind of situation_ Rez thought. _What would Bard want to do? He'd probably want to hold a tournament or some other stupid idea to decide on a course of action. Maybe he'd break a tree in half and see which way it fell or something. But in the end, what decision would he try to make? He'd obviously want to get out of here with the ship intact ASAP, but to do that he'd have to set the pose which would take at least...._ Rez's mind began to process at a rate unsuitable to record. He used his Duelist mind to accelerate his active thinking process and came to a startling, albeit somewhat predictable, solution.

"I've got an idea" Rez said. Araly stood up. "Hey. Sit down" he calmly commanded.

"We need to make this right" Araly said in a charismatic voice. "Bard would want us to do something for the people, to help them out. We should try, at least just try, to get rid of the drugs supply in the water and in their food so they can start living healthy, independent lives apart from the influence that's been pushed on them for the last twenty years!"

"Araly's right!" a pirate shouted.

"I guess if Bard were in charge" Zan said "there'd be no helping it. That's what we've got to do..." Rez agreed. In fact, that was his idea exactly, but the fact that he was beaten to the point so suddenly in a quick-draw had left him static and agitated.

_They're all against me!_ Rez thought. _I'll kill 'em all!_ His eyebrow gave an angry twitch...

* * *

And so the new plan went quickly underway. Under the cover of a dark, misty night on the autumn island a small group of pirates moved through the trees with incredible speed and unprecedented stealth. They wore all black clothing, dry and silent against the cool wind, led by their acting captain who kept the most supplies on their back. All of them carried with them the fresh fruits and recently made breads of the grains recovered from far beneath the rubble of the castle. One held in his satchel two slender cylinders of bright blue liquid.

The squad of stealthy pirates stopped at the border of the town, ripped and torn apart by the rampage of the Ghost Killer Ramone and his lady first-mate. The broken houses where guards stayed mercifully quartered under thin cloth blankets, huddled together to share their warmth. They were victims just the same as the villagers they guarded. The pirates stocked the shelves where their scarce supplies were stored as well. The pirates effortlessly broke into each house, found the pantries and storage places for all the food of those housed together and traded it all out for the healthier, cleaner variations taken from their holdout in the castle ruins.

The leader of this tenacious squad made way to the end of town, the shabby little harbor at the shore, and looked out to the ocean. Pulling down her mask, Araly took in a gasping breath of the ocean air and sighed pleasantly, admiring the sparkling ambient ocean expanding off into the far, far distance. It amazed her and brought her down from the grueling tasks of piracy that were at hand, calming her and cooling her hot blood. In truth, her calmness still came from the alchemic reaction of her tattoo, but she was ignoring that for her own sake.

"Captain Araly" a pirate said, rushing to her side. She turned and saw him panting and heaving, bent down with his hands braced on his knees. "We've done it...all the food and water...has been replaced."

"Good job" Araly said. "What about the water supply?" The man with the tubes of bright blue very slowly opened one with a twist at its metal top and gently started pouring the contents down a well just out of the village's way. The liquid was a counter-act to the drugs already deep within the water table, a bio-chemical that eliminated the main components of the drug and rendered it neutral while propagating itself at an incredible rate through water. Designed as a counter measure by Kurateka herself and tested multiple times, against the knowledge of the King, on Reginald.

"It's being taken care of" the pirate said.

"Great" Araly said, turning with a whip of her pony-tailed hair to the sea once more. "Now our only problem will be in getting our ship out of the swamp."

"About that" the pirate said, standing up straight after recovering his breath fully. He pulled out a Den Den Mushi and handed it over to Araly. It was ready to both receive and transmit. Araly picked up the receiver and held it close, knowing it was running on a quiet mode. The pirate turned to the village and dashed onward to continue his work.

"Hello?" the Mushi said, finally registering the interception of someone on the other end. The way the bug had its eyelids half over its eyes told Araly that Marco, with his signature bandana hiding his forehead, had answered. "Can I get a report, Araly?"

"We're finishing up on this end" Araly replied. "We just need to finish purifying the rest of the water supply and making sure the villagers all have the same amount of food before we leave."

"Got it" Marco said. "Progress on this end is going well. The tide came in and flooded the trenches we dug, but those guys did such a damn good job that we ended up creating a sort of harbor for the boat. All we need to do is either push or pull it out. It's already all ready for departure."

"I guess we can wait for Bard to help us there, right?" Araly asked. "I mean, he's strong enough to at least get us started, and then we could get the crew to help out too. It's not like we have any other options at this point, either."

"True" Marco said. "I'll let you go. We'll regroup at the camp inside the courtyard."

"Understood" Araly said. "Over and out." She hung up the bug with its verbal click and turned back to the misty village with a sigh. "I hope what we're doing is enough. All these years, all these people...I just hope we're giving them enough of a chance..." The Buster Pirates fled just as suddenly and silently as they came, leaving behind the benevolence of their sleeping leader's ideas as acted and interpreted through his most trusted vice-captain. Araly had helped, though, in leading that charge. Rez took no credit and sat at the top of the bleachers, far and away from the rest of the crew that he held himself back from hurting.

"Need a cigarette?" Zan asked, sitting close to him but out of range of his blades. Rez just growled. Zan took a stick from his pack and tossed it his way. It hit just beneath his eye which didn't twitch at all until after it fell from the air. The jarring impact had shaken him up like a bottle of volatile champagne, and he was ready to explode. Too keep himself cool, he simply breathed deeply in and out. "Hungry?" Zan asked. Rez darted his eyes his way and scowled. He leaned back and relaxed himself into a simple hot glare with a sigh.

"You ever regret coming out here?" Rez asked. Zan prepared to answer. "I don't, but I do wonder if the reason for coming out here was a mistake sometimes."

"What was your reason?" Zan asked, abandoning his answer entirely.

".....Revenge" Rez said. Zan's gaze fell flat. He stared Rez down, even though he saw the man was looking up and away to the sky. "I'm hunting someone down. I don't even know if they're still here or not, but whether I find them or not I'm glad that I decided to look, you know? It feels right to be here. I feel like I belong on this ocean..." Rez finally looked down and saw that Zan was still staring ahead, lounging and resting his injured leg on the bleachers under him. What he didn't see was the dark look he had. "What about you? Any mistakes or regrets?"

"Nope" Zan said, taking a drag from his cigarette to calm down. "I'm here for a reason and I know what it is. It's to get stronger for the coming storms."

"Storms?" Rez asked. He looked skyward just to be certain but leaned forward to try and evaluate the significance of the metaphor. "Wait......you would know, wouldn't you?" Rez said. "What's Dragon planning?" Zan stayed silent and smoking. He had drifted off to sleep with his cigarette in his mouth and a grin across his face. "Hey. Wake up. I'm serious" Rez said, calmly and bluntly. He sighed and leaned back, preparing to sleep once more.

* * *

Morning came. The pirates were long gone from the village, leaving not a single trace of their presence behind but the invisible fruits of their labor and their work. The villagers got up with creaks and groans, ready to start another unusual day of rebelling and rioting against their invading guests up in the ruined castle courtyard. They clothed themselves quickly and moved up and around on their tired legs to eat breakfast before departing for good. All their bread and cheese tasted the same, the same texture and bland taste and heavy weight in their feeble, weak hands and arms, but something seemed odd and different about the substance they all ate.

The water was clearer and crisper than ever before. Many people drank it until their mouths moistened for more food, and half the day had gone by. Suddenly, the people were without food. All their supplies, regularly stored and process for long periods of time, were gone. The men and women and children even stood up from their tables and stomped to their doors, bursting through the weak wooden frames with tenacious, rage-blasted faces. The village was alive and resonant with the powerful roars of an awakened people!

"HUAAAAHHH!!!" A man with a beard that stood rough and frazzled on the edge of his jaws. "We're out of food!!!"

"So are we!" a woman called from across the street. "Dammit, what do we do!?"

"We should make more BREEEEAD!!!" a man shouted, holding his shaking, lively fist to the sky.

"We should get more WATER!!!" a young woman called violently.

"Forget that!" another man shouted as he stormed into the street. "Someone needs to fix all these houses!" The men of the village stormed out and looked upon the shattered remains of the outer-lying village houses with a burning desire to work building up within them. A tenacious, powerful drive was awakened in them suddenly, and they rushed back to their homes at startling speed to retrieve their tools, their hammers and nails and pieces of lumber. They grit their teeth and glared at the pile of broken debris, ready to explode with a spontaneous blast of energy and work themselves hungry again!

"RAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!" With a thunderous call the men went to work, young and old, skinny and skinnier, all working with ten times the normal strength, at the pace of men who would otherwise be only about twice as fast as average. Still, coming from where they were, it was a tremendous feat. The women and girls worked just as fast and with just as much vigor, baking bread with their brand-new sacks of grain and flour, guzzling water greedily from their sparkling collections from the well, stitching and sewing clothes for the men to wear.

One woman sat with many others outside, enjoying the bright, sunny afternoon sunshine while working on their sewing together in a circle of log benches near the harbor. She eyed her line of stitches with medical precision and extreme care, and at a single slip up she stuttered and shot to her feet, eyebrow twitching rapidly.

"DAAAAAAAMN!!!!" she shouted, holding her needle to the sky in a super-tight grip between her fingers. "I messed uuuuuuup! Damn it! This needle sucks!" She brought the offending instrument down to her face level, holding it to her shaking, rage-filled eyes. "I'm gonna bend you into hell!"

"Don't get so angry over nothing!" an older, bulb-nosed woman said. The raging woman was brought down by a three-fold tackle and the needle was taken away to be bent by strong, articulate fingers. "Now it's even better than before!"

"What!?" the women shouted.

"Ah! You bent it yourself!" the raging woman said. The old woman went to work sewing with the U-bent needle at twice the pace as the woman, who was equally fast, worked before. The women were in utter shock over her unprecedented skill and precision with a seemingly broken tool. The woman finished the line of stitching around the hem of the tunic she made and stood up with an arrogant grin on her face.

"HAHAHA!!!" she laughed. "This way is much better for us to work!"

"That's amazing!" the women all said, eyes shining and ablaze with wonderment. The veteran handed the needle off to the woman who incited the pause in work, and she took to sewing once more, twice as fast as before. The other women joined her by bending their needles and working with incredible speed. All around the village things were the same. The hunters brought back actual game, fresh fish full of fat and nutritious bounty from the harbor at sea, and one huge group that ventured into the forest found and fought and killed a bear, a once oppressive monster that held the villagers tight under the protective whim of the guards, soldiers and even the monarchy.

"Why do I feel so good!?" a young man wondered. "Can this be....could it possibly be, the will of our Great King, flowing through me!?"

"What do you mean!?" a nearby girl asked. The man looked to the sky with his hands held out mercifully.

"That has to be it!" the young man announced. "King Rupert has taken himself to the land and enriched our food and our water. He has given us an endless bounty born from within himself, he has returned himself to us to give us strength and power to fight the men who killed him and destroyed his castle!!!"

"Are you serious!?" the woman said. She stood up and looked at her arms, and suddenly she could see and feel all the hot power coursing through her veins. The health she had never experienced before, that none but a few of them ever knew, it was a power beyond their knowledge. Suddenly, though, they seemed to know and understand. This was the will of their king, the power of Rupert Lioncrest born back into the earth of his people to give them renewed life force! That had to be it! The spirit of their king lived with them, within them, granting them strength they had never felt before!!!

regardless of the reason, the people were happy for once. In a day they did what would have taken them weeks before, and they went to sleep that night without even a single thought of anger towards the invaders that occupied their heavenly former castle courtyard. They had forgotten about vengeance and rage and rioting just long enough to do themselves well, and the next morning looked to be even better than the day, for they knew that upon waking the same fluffy bread and sparkling, clear water would be waiting for them as well...

* * *

In that night when the villagers slept the most peaceful night of their tainted lives, the company of grave men in deep-dark black moved through the woods silently, stealthily, all converging like moths drawn to a distant, warm flame at a single point in the pitch-black swamps. Leading them was the bright-haired beauty Colleen, and ahead of her was the escaped, rejuvenated Ramone Cervantes, heading off on his own initially to meet with his ship long lost to the weather and corrosion of the swamp.

Finally the pirates came to a streaking clearing where the moon light shone down on them in thick bands and ribbons. Their ship, long since deteriorated and caved in upon itself, sat waiting for them in the clearing that it had plowed down so long ago. The fallen trees gave way to the fungal mosses and eating vines that wrapped around the ship's broken hull. Already nature was seizing the hard wood of the ship, but most of it still stood apart from the surroundings. The deck was dusty and mossy and littered with little sleeping critters, all furry and mean looking like tiny bears, but it was still the deck of a ship and still stood at a perfectly flat angle on the tops of the broken trees around it.

"**.....Ggggggg**" Ramone growled. "It's been too long in coming" he said. "Way too long. That bastard and all his servants, all his cronies and soldiers, I shouldn't have let that little punk get away with protecting them. I still have so many people to kill, so much to destroy! So many things to deconstruct! **God damn! I'm still MAAAAAD!!! RAAAAAGH!!!!"** Ramone's jaw burst open and a black living cloud started buzzing loudly around his head. He wrung his fingers and clenched his hands so hard the leather of his gloves nearly cracked as it creaked. Colleen caught up to him but stayed out of sight behind him. Once the rest of the crew caught up she kept them away with a stern stopping hand held out. Ramone writhed with hollow shouts to the sky and the sea as his insect horde flew around him. But all died down. The animals on the deck of the ship's remains all scattered and flew away into the swamp once more.

"Captain?" Colleen asked, popping her head out suddenly. Ramone's insect cloud went back into his body and his jaw returned to his face by the instantaneous repair of his worker drone bugs. He fell to his knees and nearly fell on his face but caught himself and clutched his forehead in pain while Colleen held him up and braced his chest from falling any further. He groaned as she stood him up, softly calling in his ear "Are you okay? Captain?"

"I'm fine" Ramone argued, pushing her away. Colleen stepped back and let Ramone carry on alone. He walked down the slope of ground and hopped across the salty puddles of water around him that continued to warp and pulp the boards of wood stuck between the rocks that peeled off the ship on its initial docking. He edged his way toward the ship and scaled the rotted debris like a ladder up to the deck where he stood tall and stoic, staring at the distant ocean. Colleen followed soon after, pulling herself up effortlessly while the crew lagged behind her. They were having more trouble, not gifted with the natural athleticism or livid drive of either Colleen or their captain.

"Captain Cervantes" Colleen softly spoke, "what will we do? We don't have to stay in the forest anymore. I'm sure, if you wished, we could move ourselves to the castle ruins and set up a base there instead of waiting in the forest and getting sick constantly. They have plenty of herbs and there's even an elevator built along the cliff that leads down into the forest below, near where the Buster Pirates have their ship, so we could fish without scaring the villagers away. We can make this work now. We don't need to hide or live in exile or fear anymore, Captain."

"Gggggg" Ramone growled. "That's the way I like it. I'm a frightening man, Colleen. I became a pirate to spread my fear and power through the whole Grand Line, to become a tyrant, an infamous being whose mere name inspired fear and hopelessness wherever people knew of me. To not be feared is my greatest fear." He turned to her, eyes wild and his face stretching a mad grin. "**I'll have none of that!!!**" Colleen gasped upon seeing him. On the outside she was terrified, but inside she swooned with relief. Her old captain was back. He stomped across the deck and planted his foot through the rotted rails of the bow, standing with one leg propped up on a short pile of wood.

"It's gonna take us some time" Ramone growled, "but once we're back out on'tha waves we'll regain our lost glory!" Ramone's gloves gripped so hard that they tore and he ripped them off and looked at his raw hand. A small centipede slithered out from under his fingernail and crawled up his arm and back into his body through an unseen hole. He grinned wider than he had in well over a year. "**I'm ready to hit the seas whenever this old piece a' crap is!!!**" Colleen clutched her hands together in admiration. The crew continued to board the ship behind her, weak and breathless from their life in sickness, heaving and panting as they hugged the wet planks of wood.


	95. Awakening the Shark pt1

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The final round! An epic fight was about to break out! The Marines had crowded around the ring and clamored for the match to start at last! Their patience had all but ended! The towns people sat up in the stands provided by the folding accessory equipment attached to the port side of the Marine battleship that had hosted the previous battles, all bored and simply talking among themselves. Only two younger people in the crowd were intent on watching, and even _they_ weren't very excited.

"Hey Araly" Don said, "isn't Bard up next?"

"Yup" Araly said apathetically. Don nudged her with a grin.

"Well, aren't you excited?" he asked.

"I would be" Araly said "if there was anything to be excited about..."

"Alright, all you lovely people!!!" the announcer bellowed. A boisterous marine with a cleft chin and control over a loudspeaker Den Den Mushi system, the only true requirements to being an announcer among the rest of the Marines. "This is it! The final round! Great fighters from all across the West Blue were gathered here for a grand martial arts tournament! But now, we stand with the two most powerful fighters from all over the sea! In one corner, haling from this very island, standing in the breeze of his hometown spirit! **BARD D. SAMEKAWAAAAA!!!**" A roar of applause and cheering echoed out from the Marines. Even they had been swept away by Bard's ceaseless performance, easily trouncing all of his competitors in this 32-man single-elimination by knock-out-only tournament.

"He's amazing!" a Marine shouted.

"He'll be a great Marine someday!" and older, bigger Marine called. The townspeople, all but one, just sat and clapped. Bard's own mother was the only one verbose and brave enough to stand and cheer for her son.

"Go get 'em, Bard!" she cheered, her voice blasting tenderly over all the others that cheered. "Do your best!" Bard walked out from his corner of the ring, a sectioned off portion of the stone walkway of the harbor where the Marine ships were docked, and pumped his arms up. The complimentary Marine robe he wore blew off his shoulders to a strong gust of air and revealed his stunningly muscular structure to the Marines. To add to their amazement, he was unscathed. All those previous matches and he was completely unhurt. Not a mark or scratch or anything at all!

He stood with his arms up, flexing them and tilting p one leg to flex on the balls of his feet. He smiled wide with an air of arrogance, so much so that even the Marines downwind began to lose their appreciation.

_He poses a lot_ some of them thought. A general apathy that mimicked the townspeople was gathering in the Marines, but a single voice that called higher than the wind and the waves from the stands kept Bard from caring about the disdain he sensed.

"Go, Bard!" his mother called, waving from her seat. "Kick butt! You've almost won!"

"Could you be less verbose, Mrs. Samekawa?" Araly's mother pleaded. She sat down and laughed to herself.

"I'm sorry" she apologized. "That's just my only son out there, and he's nearly won! How can't I get excited?" The haggard woman leaned forward and let out a scowl.

"Not to be insulting" she said, "but doesn't your son's behavior bother you at all?"

"No" Mrs. Samekawa replied in immediate response. "He's just a boy, having his fun."

"This is his fun?" she asked in shock. "Fighting? Beating other men into crumpled piles of blood and bone?"

"He hasn't gone _that_ far yet" Mrs. Samekawa said.

"Mom" Don said to the side, "one of those fighters Bard beat was a woman, you realize."

"Eh!?" she said in pure shock. "Which one?"

"The one with the least beard" Don said "and the most clothes." And all the while, as the pre-fight preparations were underway for Bard's opponent, Araly just settled herself to working on some random stitching and seaming on a garment in her lap. It was deep black and the sun on it warmed her legs to the point where she was sweating.

"I wonder if they're handing out drinks up here...." she wondered.

"Alright!" the announcer Marine began, now in a much more militant tone. "We have just been informed that the champion, the absolute dominator of this tournament thus far, has finally given us the ready sign!" Bard stopped posing with a start and looked around in confusion.

"Wasn't that me?" Bard said, breaking cool. "Aren't I the best one here?"

"Not yet, kid" a Marine called, catching Bard's attention. "First you've gotta beat this guy!"

"Who?" Bard asked. "The boxer kid?"

"Not just any boxer, young Bard!" the announcer called.

"You can hear me!?" Bard called back in surprise.

"Hailing from and island" the announcer continued "famous for its generations of incredible fighting linage, a place where the most powerful boxers of the entire world are trained, where the school has never known defeat, not in its near hundred-year world-wide circuit existence! The impossible shall meet the incomparable today! The young upstart, self-trained strongman Bard will come face to face with the most powerful man on this side of the globe! The divine fists of the West Blue!" In he entered, a beastly man standing as tall as Bard plus a few inches, his short-cropped hair cresting just above Bard's bustling golden waves. His arms were long, his legs were thick, his torso was marked with ages of training, the structure of a man who was born a warrior and never stopped to become one, muscular enough to redefine Bard as a weakling by comparison.

His eyes were squint and his lips were thin and tightly pursed and his nose was flat to his face save for the tip that pointed out as a tiny jut of flesh and cartilage harder than bone. His brows were thick and flat across his manly carved brow. His chin had a perfect cleft cut and the tone of his face was such that his muscles were easily seen through his powerfully worked flesh. His eyes were blue...and blank. Void of all emotion. All he had to speak was in his fists, which were bound up with tape. He and Bard met at the center of the ring, facing off close enough for their bare toes to touch. Bard stayed grinning, his body ready for war, and glared up at his new opponent with a dastardly inward smirk.

"**ROCK EE-ALI!!!"** Rock flexed his amazing, godly carved arms and tore his fleece robe to pieces instantly.

_Finally_ Bard thought. _Now all my warming up pays off!

* * *

The fight would go on until the observers, Marine captains operating in the West Blue, called the fight on one of several predetermined reasons. A victory constituted a knock-out, a willful submission by the loser or a technicality. The technicality currently in play was that if one contestant killed another, or made the direct attempt to kill their opponent during the match, or if any weapon or advantageous device were used during the fight, that person would be disqualified and placed under arrest for interfering with a Government sanctioned and controlled event. Other than that, the fights could go on for as long as it took for someone's body to completely give out and lose all consciousness. Those were the only rules. Any style, so long as it was kept in control of any lethal blows, was allowed. Both of these men knew that, and even still, one of them was walking back to place with his arms up in the straight boxing guard._

_Not too shabby_ Bard thought, facing his enemy from across the ring. _He's going simple for this. Good. I guess I will too, keep my energy up to a max for the match._ And so, against any other stream of logic he may have been able to come up with, he took an identical boxing pose but with one leg forward. He paced slowly to the center of the ring once the match began and his opponent did the same. Suddenly, at the same moment, they both took a hop in the same direction, strafing in a wide circle meters away from each other. Bard grinned behind his fists. Rock was showing no emotion.

_Knew it_ Bard thought. _The principals of any boxing lie in body control, but since they're always on guard near each other, their footwork is their greatest asset in movement. In some martial arts balance replaces footwork, or even agility or maybe even the ability to move without taking the same kind of step twice! Boxing requires perfect, solid balance on the balls of one's feet. To be flatfooted is to lose the advantage!_

"You aren't the only one" Bard said "that knows how to fight!" Bard rushed in with short dashing hops. Rock retreated twice for Bard's six dashes and was caught in Bard's first major attack. First a straight swing into his guard. His arms were hard as rock, completely tense in defense. Bard smirked at this and leaned back. Rock kept blocking but leaned forward. Bard ducked forward and shot an arm up, trying to break through his guard, but Rock slid his elbows together and defended. Bard's fist had turned into a hand and he forced Rock's body to bend backwards.

_If he's too tense_ Bard thought _his whole body'll be vulnerable. His arms connect to his shoulders, and from there his chest, the core of all punching muscles! If I force up one part, all the connected, hardened parts go up together!_ Bard ducked down once more, brought his arms in tight to his chest, his fists knotted tight but loose and controlled, right under his chin where his excited grin showed. He began a short-range, rapid-speed flurry of punches to Rock's abs, right where the stone-hard muscles of his six pack met the exposed underside between his ribs. Rock's face went unchanged for the whole attack, despite the bravado of Bard's rush. Bard dashed out with a meter-long hop and kept his his guard. As expected, Rock had jabbed his elbows down just after Bard retreated and was glaring.

He threw. Bard pushed forward and leaned away from the punch, inside Rock's guard. Rock drew back and turned his body forward, following after the next powerful fist he threw at Bard. Bard leaned back and slowed his advance by stepping out. Rock's other arm was drawn in with such force that he nicked Bard's back and prompted a split-second of indecision and pain. Rock took ful advantage to turn himself to Bard once more, aligning their centers with a slide of his foot. Bard clenched his teeth and made the first move. A square blow to the side of Rock's face. Rock countered but was dodged by the desperate lean of Bard's head. Bard stepped in with his arm drawn back and low, then gave a grave uppercut to the same beat-upon part of flesh that Rock had just sustained so many blows to. His hand didn't budge past Rock's ribs, quite against the initial plan.

_What the!?_ Bard thought. Rock stepped back and punched as he made his retreat. Bard took it straight to the face and staggered a step before regaining himself and retreating. A blow right to his cheekbone. _Any closer and he would've hit right where my jaw connects. I'm glad he didn't. The last thing I want to get is punch-drunk this early! Okay!_ Bard loosened his stance, and his fists, opting for a more energetic and flowing pose. He hopped to and fro, side to side, inch to inch. One hand was up and half-gripped near his mouth. The other was forward, pulling his body, a flat open palm and tightly pressed fingers to make a solid slicing hand. The wave of his hand's motion seemed to flow like the gentle current of the sea.

"The fist that cuts waves!" Bard shouted. **"Samekawa-Ken!!**"The spectators were curious now. In the sudden bursts of action they had seen a new respect had been granted to Bard, and an equal hope of victory had been placed in his opponent as well.

"Samekawa-ken?" an elder of the village spoke. "Fist of Shark Skin? Mrs. Samekawa, do you know of this technique?"

"OOOOO!!!!" she awed, her mouth wide and round. She clutched her teeth together and began to shake with excitement, and dread. "I knew it! I knew letting Bard read books would bring him no good! He must have found his **father's diary!**"

"What!?" the elder exclaimed.

"Bard got a hold of that!?" another man shouted.

"I didn't even know he kept one!" a woman announced. "Such a book is dangerous!"

"I didn't think any harm would come of it" she admitted, still shaking and carefully observing. "He never kept anything I thought was dangerous in it. I only saw him write in it before Bard was born and when I was pregnant. It's possible, though, that he wasn't just recording his life....I found out, from Bard, little by little, that he was learning a martial art that he was reading from a book. I only saw him with the book once, but I was forced to explain what it was. My husband must have developed a fighting style....I can't say if he named it that or if it's just Bard showing off again...."

_It's that_ the whole town thought.

"....But I know it's something that shouldn't be used in a tournament." At her finish a startling revelation shook the crowd. Bard was in possession of a terrible, possibly illegal technique, and he didn't know it. He just went in fighting, his flat hand weaving through the air like a shark hunting its prey through the water, and struck Rock right in his side, straight between the ribs, while his guarding hand caught and diverted his counter attack all on a single graceful motion.

A wave crashed at the harbor and sparkling ocean dew kicked up from below. The Shark Fist had been revealed, Bard's greatest weapon, disabling Rock's movements long enough for an all-out berserk of punches and kicks to his rock-hard frame, all to which Bard let out a fearsome scream.

"**ORYAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!"

* * *

The rush continued! Against all odds, and betting pools, Bard was beating Rock Ee-Ali! For each successful blow Rock managed to land, powerful yet few though they were, Bard returned the favor with an energetic succession of what seemed to be an expenditure of his infinite combat energy. He would stun Rock with a knife-hand jab to his ribs then proceed to pummel him with knees, elbows, shins and fists. Once he met a powerful guard he backed away and played the counter-dodge game, avoiding Rock's attacks while throwing his own at close range. The audience was captivated with the hypnotic pattern of the fight. It was predictable, granted, but that didn't make it any less tense.**

Neither fighter had any signs of duress or fatigue. The fight had gone on for three hours already and the ocean was getting rough. The people on the bleacher stands attached to the boat were safely let onto solid ground as the giant boat started rocking for and aft in the undulations of the sea.

The manager of Rock, the greatest boxing fighter in the West Blue, was clutching his greatly decorated fist on the sidelines. A potbellied, spoiled shell of a man with flabby arms and legs that used to be cut to the West's greatest prime of fighting youth, he stood up from his seat and pursed his lips, gritting his gold-studded teeth and glaring through huge novelty shades at the display.

"Perhaps his reputation too far preceded him" a man said. Great and huge, captain Mars Young of the Marines sat with the manager in his private rain hut, set up in case of rain. He leaned back in his seat, which creaked under his strong weight, and grinned under his manly beard. "He should have been training to run more marathons to keep up with it, I think!"

"Shut up!" the manager roared, tossing his fedora into the sea, revealing his balding head and the cornrows tied together at the back of his neck. "Dammit! Get me another hat!" His demand had somehow met with supply, and he was handed a new, flashy velvet hat. "He's the toughest in the sea, stronger than this kid for sure! You're just not seeing it!"

"Of course I'm seeing" Mars said. He leaned forward again and placed his arm across his knee. "What I'm seeing is something brilliant. That kid, Bard, has got this match under his total control. He's started a loop that Rock can't break, even though he could at any time."

"Seriously!?" the manager shouted. "That's it then! I'll give him my special, secret sign!"

"Shackles!" Mars roared. Three Marines were upon the man clasping heavy iron shackles around his wrists, ankles and around his neck, all of them bound by chains to the stone ground. "We can't have any outside interference besides encouragement. In the heat of battle a Marine has to be able to give his own orders, whether he likes it or not. His superiors can't control him all the time. It doesn't work like that. We're not puppeteers. We're mentors, teachers, guides to raise the strongest army so we can protect anyone, anywhere. That's what this is about, to find the strongest men for the Marines, men who can protect anyone, anywhere, without their orders on a sheet of paper."

"Well how's a karate tournament supposed to do that!?" the manager asked.

"Okay" Mars began, "first of all, I'm gonna kick you so hard you're ass will be wearing a size seventeen boot!" The manager cringed and tightened his guard up. "Secondly, everyone who's been here had something to protect. Honor, heritage, prestige, ego. These two are no different. One fights for the respect and honor weighed upon his shoulders by a prestigious and famously influential school. The other boy is protecting something more personal. He's protecting what seems to be the pride of this village, an entire gathering of people who trust him, believe in him, and know without a doubt that he'll win. He's protecting everything he's ever gained from them, and although that may sound selfish of him, just look at what he's doing. He's tooling that punk's ass!" It was obvious which way Mars was biased. The manager had a certain dreadful lump lingering in his throat, but he knew what to do. He struggled himself up to his shackled feet and shouted across the ring.

"Kick his ass, Rock! Kick it until he's wearing your size eighteen boot!!!" Something flared up in Rock and at his planned counter he backed away. Bard continued rushing in, cutting a path like a shark through water with his blade hand swimming forward, while Rock continued to retreat. Rock took a different stance now, his right arm up and his left arm down and cocked back, the Southpaw! Bard kicked himself away just in time and avoided a full-bodied punch aimed straight for his face. Bard was hopping around again, this time inching himself hop by hop to the left while Rock carefully, slowly slid himself to his left, creating a constant circle.

"You can't just knock me into the ocean, man" Bard said. Rock grinned. The first show of any emotion on his face, but it was so hard Bard barely caught it.

"I don't plan on it" Rock said, issuing the first indication of his ability to talk. His voice was deep and mysterious, a voice as hard and powerful as the stone he seemed to be carved from. "I plan on breaking you down!"

"I'll take a bite outta you!" Bard said with a vicious growl. The dull roar of the tired crowd failed to reach him now. He was lost in a world of fighting. The adrenaline had blocked his ears. Now all he could hear was the cotton-dulled sound of him hitting Rock so hard that skin broke. Both of them had broken somewhere, slightly. Rock's chest had a cut but Bard's knuckle was bleeding. He licked it, endured the sting of the fresh saliva salting his wound, and began his furious hand-stab barrage. He leaned his whole body in with his right arm, letting his piercing attack carry all his weight with each jab as he advanced.

"**HERE IT IS! SHARK ATAAAACK!!!"** Rock didn't care for the angry theatrics. He just blocked his best and countered when he could. They danced in this blurry battle around the ring for a full minute, a minute longer than the repetitious three hours had seemed for Captain Mars. When they finally broke away Bard was panting and grinning, his body low and both his hands sporting thin streams of blood. He hadn't trained the Samekawa-ken enough. The tips of his fingers were ripe red and his fingers were shortened as they had pushed back into the joints. Bard grabbed the fingers of his right hand and pulled them. A sick cracking blasted out, loud enough for all to hear and cringe at, while he just smiled. Rock cracked his knuckles and set himself up, now a proper high-low guard, left hand up defending, right hand low and cocked to jab, right leg back, body twisted at the hips.

"You're going down" Bard said as he stood up. No more theatrics. He took a similar pose, but without the swimming of the shark fist. He just had a tight hand, clenched to a fist, wringing in and out, one finger at a time. "I'll send you to the bottom of the ocean!"

"I'm a decent swimmer" Rock said. "You may have to go down with me to make sure I drown!" And there it was. The ground between them got heavy and cracked. Power was in the air, the pure stench of raw power. The souls of two men living for battle clashed with an echoing bang as their mimicked attacks connected! Fist met fist, just as cannonball would serendipitously meet cannonball, in two simultaneous running-start punches. Knuckles were moved at the blow. They pushed off of each other to repeat but Bard sneered. He jut forward his middle finger as it sailed in to meet Rock's fist. Only too late did Rock notice out of the sharp corners of his eye as Bard's pointed fist jabbed right between the knuckles of his ring and middle finger. The gap was wide enough on the boxer's tough fists to allow an aching pain as Bard's finger and pushed past the knuckles and nearly split the joints of his hand apart.

_If it's not fatal_ Bard thought, _then it's legit!_ That was his only thought. He next stomped down, just next to Rock's foot, and crunched his body down with a snarl. Rock caught up with Bard and stopped what would be a devastating uppercut with a solid headbutt straight down. The fighters staggered two steps from each other and reengaged. Bard threw a kick and Rock threw a punch. They met, retreated, reposed, and started over, just punching and kicking and trying to fight past each other, working no advantage other than strength, both so involved that the dread of their onlookers and the fear of the Marines failed to reach them.


	96. Awakening the Shark pt2

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Bard ducked down and leaned in, following his head in with his arm cocked tight against his side. He threw a short punch up and stopped his arm, finishing the uppercut without connecting with a quick twist of his hips. Rock dodged with a quick shift to the side and jabbed Bard in the jaw. A dreadful hit. Bard was momentarily off balance and jumped back to plant his feet again.

_Gotta avoid those_ Bard thought. _If I lose my balance he can screw me up royally!_

"Alright!" Bard shouted. He pointed his flat hand at Rock, the preparation for the Samekawa-ken, but his other hand, his guarding fist, became flat and bobbing as well near his head. "**Shark FRENZY!!!**" Bard rushed in, both hands jabbing, stabbing, chopping away, eponymous to their namesake. Rock brought his thick, strong arms up and blocked what he could, pushing his way inside Bard's attack and pushing his arms away as they swam in to bite at his guard. Still, doing only what he could, Rock was exposed and forced onto the defense while Bard continued attacking relentlessly.

"I can't believe it" the village mayor declared. He moved through the crowd and confronted Mrs. Samekawa, who had chewed through several clothes in her fit of nerves. She was now working on some leather, gnawing and pulling at it in her masticated grip while she watched her son fight. "Is it true? Has he learned this from his late father?"

"It seems so" she answered. "The entries Bard read were mostly research notes on shark feeding habits. I read them just yesterday when he went to bed. What worries me more is the explanation that Balon wrote in his book about this style of his."

"What was it?" he asked.

"He didn't" she answered. "In fact, the only reference to a martial was in a margin note." She recalled it expertly. Balon had written, beside meticulous, near photographic sketches of sharks and their musculature, and all the paragraphs of notes on their movement, physical function and all that encompassed his research notes, _'Taking all this would make for a pretty badass martial art style! Shark-fist, or something!'_ That was it. "How Bard managed to construct an entire style from just that, well, I can't tell whether I should be proud or afraid."

Bard stepped forward and ducked his shoulder forward. His flat fist swam through the air in a curving meander that eventually found Rock's iron-strength neck and left a four-finger impression in the skin. Rock had his arm ready to block it, but somehow he never got the chance and received the blow with a stagger away before pushing forward in offense. Bard kept his arms swimming through the air, across waves of motion that only he could read, and managed to deflect all of Rock's light-speed, rock-shattering punches by placing his open palms on his forearms and redirecting them away from his body.

Rock retreated with long-measured hops, keeping up his guard. Bard intercepted him with a straight dash, reading his movement patterns and stopping him in mid-step. Bard was profiling, his right side to Rock's front. He pushed forward with his left leg and jabbed his elbow right into Rock's solar plexus. It was rock solid and he didn't budge. Then Bard repositioned his legs in a lunge, keeping his elbow straight into Rock's skin. Then he pounded his arm up. His fist was right under Rock's cleft chin, and the attack became obvious.

"I never stopped using the style!" Bard announced. He opened his palm, folded his fingers in and aimed it up, ready to drive into the angular chin of the boxer. Then training kicked in. Officially, a clinch can be used to stop both boxers from throwing punches, offering a moment of rest. In this case, a clinch wouldn't stop the match and force a separation, but it would save him just enough face to prevent an open-palm uppercut from the wildly powerful young man. Rock's arms came around Bard's back with a dreadful pressure and pressed him hard into Rock's body.

"Just try it" Rock said, squeezing and crouching. He was about to let go and retreat when Bard grinned right up at him. He was trying to laugh but Rock's suppression was too great for his chest to move and let out the chuckles. Bard let his lower half drop to Rock's impressive hold. All his weight was in the boxer's arms now and his legs were free.

His legs were free. Rock was too wrapped up in his boxing skills to remember that legs counted as weapons the same as fists. Bard delivered consecutive, powerful sweeping knees to both of Rock's towering shins. Rock let go, Bard stomped his feet down, kept his arm as tense as it could get, and shot up. He straightened his arm out, keeping his elbow from locking or buckling until he was clear of anything to injure it, and gave Rock an uppercut that lifted him from the ground. Bard then faded back and jabbed Rock with three rapid Shark Attacks, quick powerful jabs powered through his back and hips, before he even hit the ground. Bard then dashed away with his arms up to guard. Rock threw a punch and danced foot-over-foot backwards, trying to regain his dizzied mind.

_Got him!_ Bard thought triumphantly. _He's done for! No matter how strong someone is, a blow to the jaw will rattle the brain inside the skull and force them off their balance! A headache is the least of his problems now!_ Bard ran forward, pumping his arms, pounding his feet, and jumped into the air with a roar.

"**BARD KICK!!!**" With both feet pressed together he flew towards Rock and gave him a powerful drop-kick right to the throat. Rock's throat bent. The blow went through his skin, muscle, and impacted his trachea like it was nothing. Like his neck wasn't strong enough to buckle an iron rod slammed against it like he knew it was. Bard lengthened the kick by arching his back and throwing his arms straight up above his head. The backs of his wrists nearly touched as every muscle in his body flexed. Rock flew back, tumbled over his back and recovered coughing on his hands and knees. Bard landed in his Shark Frenzy pose, ready to continue, while everyone watched with hugely distended jaws. Mrs. Samekawa accidentally swallowed a chunk of leather and massaged her throat to get it out.

* * *

_Damn_ Rock thought. _All my boxing skills are useless here! His arms and upper body are just as powerful as mine but I still have the superior skill. If this were a match, an official boxing ring with a ref and everything, I'd already have won. But that's not it. This is completely open Martial Arts. Of all the opponents I've face before him none of them got a chance to use their feet. I didn't let them. But this man....he's otherworldly. His power, his endurance. I'm not fighting an ordinary man!_ Rock finally recovered and spat his fatigue onto the ground. The waves were crashing harder and harder against the salty stone harbor and the wind was blowing stronger, passing over his short hair and bustling Bard's head of gold like waves of hearty grain.

"Tell me again" Rock called. "What is that style of yours called?"

"Samekawa-ken" Bard announced "because I'm Bard D. Samekawa!"

_Just vanity, eh?_ The Marines all thought. The villagers didn't even think. They didn't care anymore. What they cared about was the result, which still seemed hours away. Thankfully, for them, the adamant tenacity of both fighters had reached a summit, and through an event only explainable through synchronicity, they attacked with killing intent. Both rushed forward, stopped an inch from each other and wound their strongest hooks. No defense, just punches. They caught each other on the side of their necks, temporarily stunning and jolting their bodies. Rock recovered first but was left in shock as to how tender his neck seemed to be already. Bard recovered the same time he came out of his wonderment and repeated, winding back his other arm for a similar punch from the ground-up. Rock did the same, but Bard kept dipping his right shoulder down toward the ground until he rolled his left leg all the way up and kicked Rock's fist with the side of his calf muscle. Bard then rolled away while Rock's arm kept spinning around.

He stopped it and shook his fist, then guarded the incoming Shark Frenzy. Bard's rush was slower and less powerful than the first time. Rock had memorized the previous force, the biting pain, the ripping force of Bard's hits. When one connected he no longer felt the dread of pain that he got before. It was no longer like staring down the open, hungry maws of a school of vicious sharks, but rather like watching a man jab with rigid fingers imitating daggers. That's when his keener senses picked up the feint. He brought one leg up in a half-effort knee-jab and blocked Bard's powerful knee jab. Their kneecaps met, but Bard's was straight on. He hit Rock's knee at an angle with force enough to move it from its center. Rock fell down and Bard hopped back. He hopped around for a moment before deciding his best course of action was to win!

Bard rushed in with a knee straight to Rock's face and continued with his feet planted. He punched viciously, twisting his hips with each strike, powering through hit after hit, clasping both hands together and bringing them through Rock's face with the power of a mace. Then he swung his arms up as if they were on loose chains, obeying only the laws of motion that Bard's muscular body managed to manipulate, and crashed his hands on top of Rock's hard head. A splintering crack of Rock's teeth hitting against each other sounded out and Bard retreated, staying on guard, his fists tight and his arms loose. Rock was shaking and still. He brought a hand to his unwell knee and, with the strength of a single finger, he popped the stray bone back into place and rose up with a natural uppercut carrying him.

"Good job" Rock said, turning to Bard. "Now I _have_ to make sure you can never fight again." Rock squared his feet and shoulders against Bard and pounded his knuckles together. A loud bang, like a gunshot, shook through the air. Bard ignored it and high-kicked himself into a spin, landing back in his calm but guarded hopping. Rock struck a pose, much like Bard's. He had his fists clenched together and wrung his fingers in and out of the tight knots. One arm, his left, was farther forward, aimed at Bard with a relaxed bend in the elbow. The other was cocked to his side, wound for an attack. He stepped back with his right arm, the same side as his cocked arm, and stood with a profile stance aimed at Bard.

"You gonna try fighting for real now?" Bard asked. Rock grinned. His thin lips spread past his bruises and his thick brows furrowed his narrow, squinting eyes into slits glaring out visible hostility. Burning fires of glittering light that met with Bard's deep, wide, reflective panels of white around his eager, fierce black pupils. "Good" Bard said, receiving his answer. "I was getting bored doing all the work!" Bard and Rock rushed at each other. Style was abandoned for pure power and rigid natural guard. Bard came in sliding with a strong leg blocking Rock's powerful amateur kick then lurched forward to power an arching punch at Rock's face. Rock brought his arms up and caught Bard's arm by the wrist, pressing it together with his powerful forearms with the intent to break. Bard pulled himself up and delivered two powerful knee jabs into Rock's gut, forcing him back. Then he stomped forward and punched him right in his unguarded, tender abs.

Rock brought his offense back with a flat kick to Bard's stomach, which pushed him back without delivering much force. Rock then rushed in, using his well-groomed footwork to speed himself up and kicked once more, this time twisting his foot as he turned his torso away, powering his attack further and forcing Bard to recover with a quick backflip. Bard got to his feet and guarded against the next major rush. Rock was punching in full swings, powering his fists from shoulder out, from neck to foot level, swinging with breaking force each time. Bard kicked one of his punches so it hit on the solid ground, then stomped to the side and brought his arm around for a powerful elbow spike to the exposed pit of Rock's elbow. The blow sent a paralytic shock through all of Rock's body and left him wide open for an open-palm uppercut that sent him flying again. This time, instead of simply little jabs, Bard grabbed Rock just before he was out of reach by the collar bone. His fingers sank down into the taught skin and forced the boy unexpectedly back to the ground for a powerful, roaring headbutt! Right to his hard, bony nose, which bent down flat against his upper lip and snorted blood as he fell backwards to pant.

Bard stepped back and struck his fighting pose, ready to continue.

"Get up" Bard demanded. Rock just breathed and spat. "Get up!" Bard demanded again. Rock grabbed out for a rope or a hand or something, but just found himself gripping the air. "Come on!" Bard roared. "Get the hell up! We're not done! You can move, so you can fight! **Now FIGHT!**" Rock snapped, wound back his reaching arm and punched himself up.

Bard could feel the unblockable attack coming his way and braced himself as hard as he could to receive it. A counter headbutt right to his chest, just beneath his throat, barely missing his neck and creaking his sternum and ribs together. Rock was powered through so much with his recover that he had to recover his balance after three whole steps. Now, with trails of blood going down his mouth, Rock stood and slowly rushed forward, taking small but sure steps towards Bard, who had troubled breath.

_Oh damn!_ Bard thought. _Maybe I provoked him too much!

* * *

Rock blasted forward. He through straight punch after punch for Bard's face. Bard weaved under the blows until his butt hit the ground. Then he kicked away, rolled back onto his hands and spun himself around with his strong arms in a rotating kick. His legs powered through Rock's guard but they were still low enough for Rock to block with his own legs. He was learning, little by little, how to fight with his lower half, untrained as it was for such power and work. He brought up a leg, stopped the attack, and kicked at Bard to get him back up. Bard saulted over onto his feet and jumped forward with a punch. It landed center chest. Rock flexed his pecs and forced Bard's fist off, then jabbed with his left and hooked with his right._

Bard ducked and leaned away, keeping his footing static while he tried to read Rock's offense. Rock brought both his hands back and shrunk down slightly. Bard brought his arms up to guard his face and leaned back, taking a step away and thrusting his leg up. Rock kicked right into Bard's guard, leaving him open. Bard stomped his leg back down and thrust a steady fist and tense arm into Rock's abs. They were more and more tender and vulnerable each time Bard hit them, and this time Rock gave a visible and audible wince to the pain. They retreated from each other and then simultaneously dashed forward in a circle strafe. Bard ran right, Rock ran right. They stopped, reset and ran left at each other. They retreated, paced towards each other, repeated their circling and jumped away again. Bard was getting frustrated.

"DAMN YOU!" he shouted with a fanged maw. "Either come at me or break yourself in half! I don't have all the time in the world to beat your ass!"

"Hmph" Rock sighed. He dashed straight forward at Bard. Bard backpedaled away and kept up his guard. Rock caught up with him, his trained boxer steps giving him the advantage as he shifted his hips and hopped straight with sideways movements, and he punched, throwing all his weight into his hand which was curled into an iron balled fist. Bard left the ground and blocked it with both arms. His arms hit against him hard and he was thrown backwards, hovering just over the ground, from the force of the blow. For the first time the fighters ran close to the border of their ring, the outer edge of the crowd where the Marines stood guard. Bard began running forward and grabbed Rock's next punch with both hands. Rock's arm went back to its position on its own and Bard let it pull him in to his range for a headbutt. As Rock stepped back Bard followed up with two knee thrusts to his gut followed by stomps as he walked forward. Then two punches to each shoulder which profiled Rock and set him up perfectly for a kick. Bard hopped into position, wound up a powerful high kick and launched.

"**RAGH!**" he roared. **"Bard KICK!!!**" Rock uppercut Bard's leg and hyper-extended it from his thigh. Bard nearly squealed in the pain and grit his teeth hard with reflexive tears in his eyes. Rock slid his body to the side, his legs positioned wide, and rushed in without fear. He punched away at Bard's fully exposed chest and abdomen, then wound up a tremendous punch to Bard's face. He stepped in, delivered, and promptly chased after the boy who bounced across the hard harbor surface. For once the crowd was moved in sympathetic pain. Bard didn't recover on his own. Rock had punted him square in the gut to get him up, and even then Bard's defense seemed to waver and wane as his leg had given out from nearly popping out of joint.

_Gah! Damn!_ Bard thought. _I didn't think he still had his guard up! I was moving him around, and suddenly, his fist came out of nowhere!_ Then suddenly, Rock's fist came from his extending arm and swung straight for Bard. Bard deflected it, feeling a twinge of pain in his arm as he pushed the strong arm to the side, and he leaned in to punch again. Rock just took it to his shoulder and smiled.

"Without your legs" Rock said, grabbing Bard's extended arm, "your punching power is negated. You can't beat me anymore, kid." Rock took Bard's arm and, with a display of immense strength, **yanked it from its shoulder joint. **A perfect, seamless, powerful dislocation. Bard howled with pain and sank down, but not before receiving a muting knee to his stomach and a clinch and push away. Bard stumbled over himself and fell to his side, holding his numb, dangling arm and twitching his spasmodic leg with grief echoing in his voice. His entire village watched in sheer anticipation and dread.

'He's lost?' 'I can't believe it!' 'All that hype for this?' 'He's done already?' 'I can't believe it's over....' The village was in a quite state of fearful awe. Mrs. Samekawa had bit and chewed through a piece of battleship lumber, which was naturally hard enough to resist long-range cannon fire, as she watched her only son struggle and groan in intense pain.

"Poor Bard!" the village mayor cried. "That poor, poor boy!"

"It's okay" Mrs. Samekawa said, drawing the surrounding attention. "Bard's a strong enough boy to take a loss every now and then...." Despite the calm, elegant smile on her face, tears formed from her eyes. "He's a good boy. He wouldn't get angry over this. I'm so proud of him already...." Just then Bard rolled onto his knees, used his good arm to set his limp, dislocated arm agsint the ground, and he pushed his entire back and shoulder down. A blast sounded out, like a gun being fired, and Bard's joint was back in place. His fingers all wrung in order and a tight fist was clenched. He grit his teeth and pushed up to his feet, then shifted all his weight with a swing of his arms over his head onto his extended leg which popped back into place as well. Now he was better and ready to fight with a serious, demonic scowl on his face.

"Eh?" Mrs. Samekawa chirped. Her village turned back to the ring where Bard stood. Even Rock was dumbfounded at his recovery.

* * *

"You reset your shoulder" he said in awe "_and_ your leg? Aren't you in excruciating pain?" Bard walked forward. Rock's feet were frozen in place. All he could do was lean away in utter amazement at Bard's superior tenacity and power. Bard smirked and scoffed with a tilt of his head. Then he swung his arm. His fist grazed across Rock's lip and cut it. Bard spun around with his back facing Rock's chest, flexed his bulging, iron-hide lateral muscles, took a step between Rock's legs and roared.

"**Shark RAM!!!**" Bard exploded backwards with his arms in front, flexing his back, and his legs pushing the ground from beneath him. His back slammed into Rock's chests and immediately fractured his ribs. Rock flew away and tumbled over onto his back with his legs high in the air. Bard spun around and chased, catching both his legs before the fell and slung them over his shoulder. He then carried Rock like a sack of timber and threw him over his shoulder and onto his stomach where he howled with pain. Bard grabbed him by the short hair of his neck, reeled him up to his feel, spun him around and took a long, careful breath as his flat palms swam through the air. Rock tried to move his arms up but the first hit was a crippling one. Bard attacked with the ferocity of a shark, stabbing at each of his fractured ribs until he heard one of them break.

"**NOW!!!**" Bard roared.

"Stop him!" Mars ordered. Bard had both fists wound far back. Rock was already falling forward to his knees, the pain against his lungs and heart too much for him to stay awake for, the match already over. The Marines rushed in with shackles and guns for self-defense, although they didn't believe that simple guns would defend them well against this monster of a young man.

"**Samekawa-Ken!"** Bard wound his arms back, far back, both ready to fire at the same instant. Rock continued to fall forward, toward the inevitable blast of power.

"Bard! Stop!" Mrs. Samekawa called, her voice reaching above the crashing waves and whipping winds. Bard growled. His eyes sank into mad circles. His back and chest both exploded with great force. The strings of his muscles all flexed and pulled in perfect tune, sounding out the great symphonic majesty of a powerful body working perfectly, and both his fists met against Rock's now cracked sternum and threw him into a line of Marines who toppled over his weight.

"**WHALE SHARK ATTACK!!!!"** That was the attack that won Bard the strongest title, recognized by a panel of superior Marine captains, all of which were brought in to detain the triumphant, happily grinning boy to the ground and check Rock's vital status.

"He's alright" one of the captain's called. "He's got a lot of broken bones, but he's alright. You can let him go." Mars and his fellow captain got up and brushed their sleeves in the wind.

"Looks like a gale" Mars said. He grabbed Bard's arm and thrust it up. "Alright! I hereby declare, with the power vested in me by the Marine Headquarters and Mariejois, Bard D. Samekawa the winner! Congratulations!" Bard jumped up on his own and flexed his arms in victory while the Marines cleared out in the coming storm and the villagers ran back to the inland to brace their homes and shelters for the storm as they always had. Only a few were left. Mrs. Samekawa, who walked through the crowd to her son, a sleeping Araly who had curled up on the ground since she was moved from the ship-side bleachers, her brother and mother and the village mayor.

"Ahhh, Balon" he sighed. "You've left us a powder-keg, it seems. I hope he can find some solace and stability on his own on the Grand Line...."

"Good job Bard" Mrs. Samekawa said, patting Bard on the shoulder in the heavy wind.

"Ah, that was fun" Bard said, placing his deep-red knuckles on his hips and pulling them away, shocked at the pain of his tender, nearly bleeding hands. "I overdid it in the end, but I overdid it with style!" Bard stood heroically against the wind, with his hands on his hips, until his stomach growled and he slumped over his gut with a calming palm rubbing down his abs. "I'm hungry."

"I can take care of that" his mother said, leading him with a pull on his arm back home. They walked through the stormy weather together, a family victorious and feared. Bard's muscles were still so taught and hot from the hours of fighting that once the rain started he was surrounded in steam. His mother, meanwhile, carefully bit her lip as she walked and kept her head low as they went through the village to their forest-path to home. Her mind couldn't leave certain things alone, things such as her beloved husband and the son he had left behind. And the power they both had...


	97. Awakening of Bard! The Captain's Return!

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Bard was so suddenly awake that he forgot to breathe and stood up with a gasping shout. His face was drenched in water and his mouth tasted salty and gritty. He didn't know how long he'd been out or who was around him immediately upon waking. In the bright streaks of light across the cloudy, gray sky, Bard could only manage to see the shadowy forms of men carrying weapons and buckets of water his way. He thought he heard a voice call to him, but an instant later he was bogged with more water thrown from a bucket by one of his own men.

"Oh, he's awake" Rez said as he held the emptied bucket right over his head. "I was having fun, too."

"Seventeen" Zan said. "He's a heavy sleeper, isn't he?" Zan chuckled and hopped up off his seat. He paced over and leaned down to offer Bard a hand up. Bard took it and was pulled to his feet as Zan sank to his ankles into the ground. "You almost pulled me down, captain. Glad to see your strength hasn't waned at all." Zan gave him a hearty, strong handshake and pulled his feet from the ground to dash across the grounds. Bard watched him run. On his way to a hole in the courtyard wall some length away from the wrecked and ruined bleachers, Zan picked up a staff with a bludgeon hammer equipped to the end and ran with it into battle.

"Hey" Bard said, his head still swimming and light. "Hey, what's going on?"

"Civil revolt" Rez said. "Now that you're awake we can stop defending you and start fighting back!"

"Against who?" Bard asked.

"The villagers" Kurateka answered. Bard turned to her with a start, as he never remembered seeing her before.

"Who're you!?" he asked in distress.

"I'm the doctor" Kurateka answered. Bard's heart swelled. A beaming smile grew across his eager face and his eyes sparkled with joy.

"You're" Bard began, leaning forward with anxious intensity, "you're my crew's doctor!?"

"Oh-hoho!" Kurateka chuckled. "I don't think so. I'm merely doing my duty and healing the ailed and injured here."

"We tried to get her to join" one of the pirates, bandaged and sprawled on a blanket, "but she kept refusing. She's a stubborn old gal! HURK!!!" Kurateka stood on top of him to check his IV drip, right on his heavily bandaged abdomen. He groaned and reeled in pain until she got off and paced her way over to Bard with a syringe in her hand. Bard hopped away and became cautious, as well as light-headed and pudding-legged. He fell down and clutched his head, breathing heavy, dry breaths from the ground.

"Don't worry" Kura said as she took Bard's arm, slinging it under her armpit to get a solid grip on the heavy, powerful arm. She found a vein instantly and filled it with a clear, clean liquid that warmed Bard's arm and soon thereafter his body. "This will give you enough energy to move around for a while, but only that. Don't try fighting until I've given you a go-ahead, and don't do anything particularly strenuous like training."

"Awwwww" Bard groaned in dejection. "But how will I keep my muscles from being absorbed into my body by my hyper-active metabolism?"

"You're metabolism isn't that hyper" Kura said as she stood him up. "And amazingly, even though you were out for so long, your muscles haven't deteriorated in the slightest. In fact, I think I can see some added build to them as you slept."

"That's good" Bard said.

"I had to dilute pure liquid protein after adding so much of it to your natural saline drip became ineffective" Kura said in a frustrated way. "Your stomach was constantly growling without proper food so I had to do my part and gave your body an abundance of natural minerals, starches, proteins and vitamins. You never missed a thing while you were out."

"I missed combat" Bard said with his head to the sky. "That...is the greaetest disappointment I've ever had upon waking...."

"Granted" Kura said, crossing her arms, "it's combat against the villagers."

"EH!?" Bard grunted. His jaw had dropped halfway down his neck and his eyes were furrowed over with a dark shadow. "Why're they fighting the villagers!? Did my crew mutiny on me!?"

"The villagers they're fighting" Kura said "aren't the one's you last saw. Your pirates helped give them back their life as human beings, and in return, they hold the grudge of the death of their king strongly against your comrades. A very ungrateful bunch, if you ask me...."

"Ungrateful or not" Reginald said as he stepped into scene, "they're getting a little stronger every day!"

"Hi Drakengard" Bard greeted with a casual wave. Reginald tapped his halberd blade against his forehead in salute and grinned.

"So has the doctor been good to you?" he asked, turning to Kura who bashfully averted her bandage-hidden face to the side.

"Of course I have" she said forcefully. "He's just woken up, however, so I've barred him from any strenuous activity that may impede his natural healing cycle while he's awake."

"Really?" Reginald said. "No fighting? No combat at all? That's a pity. Those villagers are all riled up out there. They're calling for your head, 'Blonde Demon King'."

"AWWWWW!!!" Bard howled in exasperation as he fell to his knees with curling fingers grabbing at the sky. "I even got a kick-ass name given in hatred! I'm finally a pirate but I can't go out and fight! It's not fair! _It's not faaaair!_" Bard sunk his head and curled his arms around his legs as he fell on his side to the ground. ".....not fair...." he whimpered. Kura looked up at the gape-mouthed Reginald.

"The side effect of the medicine is the onset of emotional instability" she explained. Reginald nodded and grinned in understanding.

"So" he said, tapping his spear against the ground. "You're really certain about your decision? I intend to get off this island eventually, after I get some semblance of order and sanity among the villagers, but you shouldn't feel so obligated to stay just because you worked here."

"....it's not that" Kura said. "I'd like to go, but I fear that.....I'd just get in their way. This isn't just a crew of pillagers or random pirates, they're a closer-knit army than any ordinary crew is. It's almost like they're a family, and I...."

"You think you're too old for them?" Reginald asked. She glowered her whited-out blue eye at him and held up a syringe clutched between her fingers. "These people let me into their fair family just long enough to make use of my power, but I didn't complain. So far I see that they have no intention of letting me leave. They've asked me a thousand times over each to join their crew, but each time of my own accord I've declined them. They are adventurers, these men, out to see great sights and fight great battles. Is seeing and believing really too hard for a young-hearted girl like you, Kura?" Kurateka blinked at him, then lowered her head in thought. Bard had rolled away from them and was sifting among the rubble of the bleachers in a depressing boredom. Kura clenched her fists, unable to speak, and simply turned her attention to her row of patients.

"I'll consider it further" she said, "but for now I'm busy, and I'd like to work without interruptions or distractions, so if you'd be so kind as to-" When she looked up to dismiss him, Reginald was already gone. She sighed and wiped a tear away from her completely bandaged eye, an entirely symbolic act, knowing she couldn't prevent a tear from that eye be unseen as it left a wet mark on her bandages...

* * *

A day of fighting was done. This time the villagers left in high spirits with pumped vigor and muscular strides. The men with backs so wide the seams of their shirts were pulled and breaking carried two armful stacks of injured and immobile at a time. Even the women managed to carry two or more men on their shoulders, as well as most of the arms, as they made their way back to their village.

"We kicked ASS!!!" a young man said as he carried six groaning infantrymen.

"Those blasted demons!" a girl shouted as she hauled a cart full of arms pulled by a rope tied around her powerfully taught neck. She slammed her fist into her palm and ground it with a sly grin and laugh. "We showed them who not to mess with! Us! Those bastards!"

"Swear word!" an older man shouted randomly.

"I'm still so pumped" another man said, drooping his haggard face and yawning loudly. "But man, I'm tired. Anyone else really tired?"

"I'm still pumped!" the young man with arms full declared.

"Me too!" the girl likewise called. "I'm so awake right now, even though the sky's dark and the sun's low and the tide is leaving! It's odd, isn't it? I can remember wanting to sleep for days at a time when it got to be this time after only making two loafs of bread for the day. Now I've done more today than I have in my entire life, and I'm _still_ not tired!! IT'S INCREDIBLE!!!"

"You're awesome!" an older lady said, spinning in place with a dazzling thumb up, then yawning just like the man in the group. "But yeah, I'm kinda tired too. I wonder why."

"I guess we're just too youthful" another young man said. "All us youngsters can stay up late tonight and party to celebrate being such hard-ass warriors while you old geezers fall asleep in your beds!"

"Hey!" An old, balding, bearded man shouted, he with more muscle than most of the other men of his stature and age. "Don't you youngsters mock us for our age! We can kick the ass of anyone half as young as us!"

"You wanna bet!?" the same young man shouted.

"It's a challenge!" the old man demanded. "I'll meet you by the ocean in ten minutes!"

"I'll be doing push-ups to prepare!" the youngster proclaimed, and then he was off. The old man chased after him as the front of the line, running down the hill. Behind them was the rest of their company following, carrying heavy burdens of men and weapons, super-strong from the spontaneous rush of unknown chemicals to their long deprived bodies. Chemical mixtures such as testosterone, adrenaline, endorphins and estrogen. Chemicals they had somehow blandly lived without had suddenly spiked their aggression, strength, musculature and nature. They were the result in the ultimate drug-test, the ultimate social experiment and a living triumph of non-traditional science at work!

Once the band had passed clear out of sight, a cloak-and-hooded figure sprang from the bushes and made a sprinting dash along the dark shade of the trees for cover. The moving shadow hit the castle gate wall with its back and slinked silently along its side, keeping itself hidden by the evening's cloudy darkness, and made its way to the shoddy blockade of woven logs and stacked ruined bricks that kept the villagers at bay for just the minutes the pirates needed to prepare for combat. The figure ducked between the spaces in the logs with grunts and gasps, then, unfortunately, got stuck just as freedom was in sight.

"Ahh!" the figure silently gasped. It attempted to pry loose the logs that had trapped it in by the waist and kicked rapidly, hoping to solve the problem with random bouts of unguided physical force.

"Hey" a patrolling pirate said, pointing over to the intruder. "What's that?"

"Looks like an intruder?" the other pirate on patrol said. "Looks like they're stuck, too." The figure abandoned stealth and started slamming on the thick, hollow logs in anger.

"Stupid logs!" she whispered. "I am not to thick to fit through you, now let me through!" She pushed and pumped with her legs as hard as she could, feeling her skin pull at the tight embrace of the wood, and with a raise of the logs around her hips she was freed and landed hands and knees to the hard, much-trampled dirt. She got up and brushed off her cloak, not noticing the gleaming grins and white eyes of the pirates behind her until she turned with a squeak and was overtaken. She was then carried across the garden and to a tented area where the Buster Pirates had set up their headquarters. A beige tarp was stretched across the branches of two trees and staked to the ground behind them, all supported by ropes and ties that lowered, lengthened and spread out the cover like the pulleys of a sail.

"Intruder, captain" the leading patrol pirate said. He threw the girl to the ground where she coughed and groaned. She rolled onto her right shoulder with a metallic clank and pushed up to her feet with a tired sigh. "What should we do?" The girl looked with a frightful gasp at Bard, who sat in a regal chair missing the upper-right corner of its wood and velvet plush, leaning against his fist with a flat, emotionless look. She was startled into a backwards retreat but was stopped by the pirates who pushed her forward. She opened her hood and revealed her flowing, curly hair which curtained her familiar, soft, beautiful face and bright blue eyes. It was Colleen. Still, the familiarity didn't provoke any shift in emotion for Bard at all.

"Hold on a sec" the pirate said. He reached over from behind Colleen and slapped Bard on the face. Bard blinked rapidly and pushed himself up from the arms of the chair, looking around rapidly as if he'd lost his place.

"How long was I out?" he asked.

"Not long" the other patrol pirate said. "Anyway, here's this girl. What should we do with her?"

"Oh!" Bard exclaimed. He pushed himself up from the chair and bent his knees to get to Colleen's eye level with excited hands and curled up arms. "I know you! You have that thing on your arm, don't you!?"

"Uh...yes?" Colleen said. She revealed her mechanical arm cannon folded back with all the essential firing components solidly fixed together along her tricep muscle. "I'm captain Ramone's first mate, Colleen. We met....briefly, during our fights a few days ago."

"That's right" Bard said as he stood up with a grin. "I remember you....kinda. Well, since I know what crew you're from, I can only assume you have positive intentions here. What's up?"

_Shouldn't it be the opposite!?_ The patrol guards thought together. They looked at each other with their lips curled open and teeth exposed with the flattest, furrowed brow they could simultaneously manage.

"I have a message" she began shyly "from my Captain. He...blames you for everything, for his escape and his defeat and his hopes being dashed and the ruin of his ship, but I know he doesn't mean it. He's so upset because someone else took his revenge that he's not talking right. He just roars and punches trees and.....breaks things all day."

"He's a pretty dangerous guy, alright" Bard said with a nod. "So he hates me now?"

"He wanted me to say" Colleen said, wringing her hands together and stroking the soft, worn bandages that covered her right arm, "that the next time you two meet on the Grand Line, he's going to kill you. He considers you a mortal enemy now, but agreed that he won't approach you on this island anymore....also, he wanted me to give you this..." She held out in her hand a **Log Pose** pointing solidly in one direction, away from the island. Bard took it in his hand and handed it off to a pirate beside him.

"Give that to Rez" he said. "Tell him we have a new bearing. Also, get me our Log Pose."

"Aye" the pirate said. He rushed off at once.

"So that's it?" Bard said. "All that fighting and I've made a new enemy, rather than a friend?"

"....I'm sorry" Colleen said in a drastic state of worry. "I tried to talk him out of it, I really tried, but he's so insistant and the crew stood behind him and I know I couldn't oppose him outright at all. You don't understand what he's done for me, for all of us. We can't abandon him! We-"

"In that case!" Bard declared, stopping Colleen's frantic rant and drawing her attention up to his grinning, plotting face, "I've got a message for him as well, if you'll deliver it."

"Alright" Colleen said.

"It's a **physical message**" Bard said. That instant he wound his arm far back with an open palm. Colleen shut her eyes tight and knotted her hands together to brace for the pain. Bard delivered to her cheek a light, painless, startling slap and stayed his hand at her face. She opened her eyes, thinking that her pain had just begun, and saw Bard smiling down at her. "Only do it to him, like, ten times harder. And make sure you say it's my response to his call for rivalry. I think that will give my approval loud and clear!"

".....Uh" Colleen grunted in confusion. She felt her cheek for the pain of a bruise and looked to her chest under her cloak where her right hand was so tightly clenched in fear, and she nodded. "I'll....be sure he gets the message, Bard. Thank you...."

"Yup!" Bard said. Colleen started walking away. She looked back over her shoulder once, then began to walk a bit faster. She finally looked back and waved with a pretty smile and Bard waved back. She turned and saw a pirate running at her with a gift wrapped up in a cloth for protection. He handed her the Buster Pirate's pose, which had yet to set like her Captain's had, and she left. She was helped through the barricade and was gone, off to the swamp to deliver her captain-to-captain message with her own uncertainty. She looked at her fist with wide eyes.

_Can I even do that?_ She wondered. She clenched her fist tight and ran on. _I will try...I have to!

* * *

Colleen returned to her crew's base, the deserted platform of their former ship, and saw the crew working at their fullest strength. They carried lumber from place to place, some salvage, some fresh from the salt-ridden trees and some stolen from the village supply. Ramone was standing at the bow of the deck platform, looking out past the trees and enjoying the demure sky and quickly-moving tide waters as they swept along the side of the coast with the power to erode away the very roots of the trees that hung out of the dirt._

"Gggggg....." he lowed. Colleen approached him slowly, gathering harsh glares from the rest of the crew as she walked to him. Ramone turned around and reattached the loose left side of his jawbone. Colleen gripped her right arm across her stomach and rubbed it self-consciously.

"....I did it" Colleen said, looking away. "Bard knows now, and he gave me his Log Pose to have in place of our own."

"Of course he did!" Ramone shouted. "He's a boy, and a dim one at that! He's still young and filled with the duplicitous sense of honor and innocence that all pirates eventually get rid of on their first real act of villainy. He's still just a kid, and I intend to fight and kill him as a man, somewhere out on the ocean..." Ramone turned back to the ocean and listened to it swell and rush against the island. Colleen was glad that the message got across without her need to truly deliver it, but she still felt unfulfilled by withholding Bard's more powerful message. She stood for a while in silence, behind her captain in gracious waiting, until the rush of impatience filled her and forced her hand to clench and work the mechanisms to whirr and wrap from her back to her arm.

"He had another message" Colleen said. Ramone growled and turned to her.

"What was it?" he asked. Colleen just stared at the floor while her Hellcat Cannon assembled around her thick-gauzed arm. "Colleen?" Ramone asked. Colleen wound her arm up, stepped forward and twisted her whole body for a full-contact steel punch to Ramone's face. At the first sign of breaking Colleen was convinced that her delivery was much more than ten times the requested strength, and upon Ramone's face breaking apart in waxen shrapnel and shards, she withdrew as much of her attack as she could and sank to the floor in horror. Ramone was limp and dead-looking at first glance. All the work stopped in the woods and the lean, pallor-faced men looked on in speechless shock. Ramone twitched his fingers and ordered his insects from within their hive. He pushed himself up despite the obvious handicap of being headless, and his worker bugs worked rapidly to rebuilt his face and replace his hair with their freshly spun, greasy silk.

"Ggggggg" Ramone growled with his lower-jawless grin. "So....he wants it _that_ way, does he? I suppose I'll have to train a lot harder to force fate into _my_ hands when we meet..." He stood up and rubbed the new, fresh cheek of his face. His hand trailed a sticky mucous from the adhesive spit of his worker drones. Colleen looked at him in awe, a nearly immortal warrior, a true ghost of a man with white rage in his black eyes. **"It's WAR! The Buster Pirates are our sworn enemies! We, the Killer Ghost Pirates, will show them the true spirit of piracy in our fighting! We will kill them! We will become a crew of murderous poltergeist! We will appear and disappear in silence and shadow, carrying with us the souls of our enemies!!! NOTHING SHALL STOP US BUT DEATH, WHO WE SHALL MASTER HEREFORTH! ANYONE WHO WANTS TO SCREW WITH US, WE'LL KILL EM!!!!!!"**

"**RAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!**" his crew roared. Colleen was stunned by his charismatic theatrics. He snapped his jaw back into place and licked off the mucous around his new lips with a mad smile.

"**Ggggggg"** he growled. "I'll show that kid what real power is about on this sea! The Killer Ghost Killer, the 'Lord of the Flies', I'll form the ultimate crew of soulless, deadly, silent assassins and **bring terror and fear back to the world!**"

"....captain" Colleen whispered in fear. Ramone turned to her with a smile, with lowered brow and relaxed cheeks. While the men cheered for their new eventual revelation into the darkness of becoming assassins, Colleen was truly afraid of her Captain's might and rage. She was even shivering and sweating. He approached her and knelt down to her. She leaned away as he closed in. He brushed the hair from her eyes and gazed deeply at her.

"If you don't want to follow" he said, softly and only to her, "I won't blame you. I know that my way is pretty frightening to you. So come with us and stay behind at the same time. I won't push you in any way...."

"......thank you...." Colleen said. Amidst the cheering and celebration of rage and newf ound bloodlust in the men, a stranger had managed to penetrate their perimeter and was soon discovered by Ramone, the only one not distracted by his own antics. He stood up and glared across the long clearing to the aft of the intact deck.

"Who the hell're you!?" he called. The cheering stopped and all heads in hoods quickly jerked in Ramone's glaring direction. There, upon a rock where salty water drooled out from a natural spring, stood **Sally 'Steel Rope' Morganna**, complete with two loops of her thick steel ropes tied behind her in a bow around her thick waist. She had changed her former habit into a more fitting dress for a girl of her mighty stance. Her sleeves were ripped and her arms were fully, boastfully presented. Her lower skirt had been fashioned into tight pants that showed off her powerful, oak-hard legs and black climbing boots were on her feet. She was grinning with her arms crossed, a haughty and arrogant pose, glancing around at the working crew.

"Well, well" she began, moving her hands to her thick, powerful hips. "This is what I was trying to find, here. I'm glad I got lost!" She leaped from the rocks to the middle of the deck. The ruined wood creaked under her pressure and weight, which she smiled at. Ramone began removing his glove. The buzzing of battle-insects became audible from within his body. "Calm down, here" Sally said, brushing both hands at him in dejection. "No one's here to start a fight, 'kay? I wanna join you, here!"

"......really?" Ramone said as he tightened his glove. "**Have you ever killed anyone?**"

"Who do you think I am?" Sally asked. "You're looking at the former queen of the North. The terror of the calm South! I've been wreaking havoc on the world since I was born, crushing men left and right, breaking bones and bodies as easily as I can break the ground with my steel rope 'Shimenawa', and **I never flinch when I'm fighting!**"

"Is that so?" Ramone said. With a calm turn around and a cross of his arms to the sea, he spoke. "Pick up some lumber and start lending a hand. We're stuck here for the next month while the pose sets and we need a ship before then. If you put forth enough effort I'll give you a position in the crew. Otherwise, once we're out to sea, I'll see **just how much I can _make_ you flinch.**" Ramone turned around with a millipede slithering into his eye from his mouth. Sally glared and smiled right at him, then stomped across the deck and picked up two huge loads of lumber in her muscular arms. Ramone sat on the broken bowsprit as the tides emptied out the swamp and revealed the black sloshing, salty death of land underneath, a moving and living moss that reached its short feelers straight upwards in the dark, gray sky light.

"Ggggggg" Ramone growled with a mad smile. "The seas are quaking already. **The world's still afraid of ghosts, I hope....!**"

And thus the 'Killer Ghost' Pirate were rebuilt. Their flag was remodeled to refit their rebirth, the second time they were cast to sea with renewed vigor and hope. This flag was of a stern and serious, realistic skull pierced through the cranium from below with a spear. Crawling along the skull's head was a halo of centipedes and a Buddhist third-eye cockroach situated between the two angry eye holes. The lower jaw of the skull was missing. A dark and mysterious flag for the Grand Line's future masters of horror and fear......

The Buster Pirates ship was already trenched free of the swamp. Sail was set for the next day.....


	98. To the Sea Again!

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The villagers were up and ready for another day of fighting. The younger set woke earlier than their older compatriots and started their warm-ups in the street. Combat stretches.

"LEFT" the leading instructor said. Everyone punched left. "RIGHT" he shouted. Everyone punched right. "KICK" he shouted. Everyone kicked forward. "RIGHT" and they kicked right. "FALL" and they retreated four wide steps backward. "DOWN" and they all ducked. They were a well-oiled machine of fighting in perfect order. They took up their sharpened pitchforks and lined up to listen to the chants of their instructing leader as he stood upon an elevated fencepost.

"We're gonna KILL THEM!!!" he shouted. The crowd of fighters cheered back. "We're strong! We're fierce! We're powerful bastards!"

"HELL YEAH!!!" the crowd roared back. The rally continued just outside the house of the only two calm and controlled people left in the entire village. Emily and Jedidiah listened silently at their table, eating their flat loaf of bread and drinking their sparkling clear water.

"I apologize for the state of our meal, brother" Emily said sullenly. "My mind has wandered these past days...."

"I don't blame you" Jed said, taking a sip of water. His speech had thankfully cleared up to a normal yet still dignified and reserved manner, where Emily retained all her maidenly charm of eloquence that the brainwashing had given everyone. She felt the words rolling off her tongue oddly instead of not noticing anything anymore. The changes in her body allowed her simply to see what changes there were. "I don't blame anyone anymore.....not even the Demons."

"Art thou certain?" Emily asked.

"Yes" Jed replied. "I'm sure you've seen it recently. All the corruption, the lies, the fake exterior we've always believed is real....It's hard to blame someone when the whole world seems to be wrong anymore."

"But however can we live under such a trying sky of adversity?" Emily asked. "The people just outside our window shout cries for the blood of men whom we both know are good men deep down. These pirates never came hither to deal upon us the same torment as the demons of the yesteryears. It is not their fault nor their purpose to be despised by us all!"

"They're strong, though" Jed said. "They can deal with it. We just have to believe that they'll do something good soon...."

"But what good can they do?" Emily asked. Jed opened an eye at her from his lowered glance.

"Just look at all the good they've already _done_" he said as he stood from the table. He grabbed a garden hoe from the closet and hurried outside to join the mob that formed. Emily sat at her table, staring at her flat slice of bread, and wrung her hands on her dress. Her eyes teared up and drops of sad water fell onto her plate. She cried softly into her hands, wrought with her own indecision.

Jed stood at the edge of the gathered circle and observed his fellow rejuvenated villagers. Because he was recovering from his devastating blow from the dreadful demon Ramone for the length of time these raids of the pirates had been going on, he wasn't as strong looking as them. Regardless, he found that he had the same strength without the stature and testosterone-infused rage of his fellow village men. He stood among the cheering and jeering as the proud mob leader held up a bloodied kerchief stolen from the body of one of the pirates they had fought.

"This man!" he proclaimed. "This rugged yet jaded older man, the one they call 'Marco' in the heat of battle, his ass is GRASS!!!" He clutched the hand and squeezed the threads together with a creak. The company cheered at the object of their current conquest. All they had to show that wasn't bandaged out splinted for their efforts thus far was that single bandana with the corner reddened with someone's blood. Jed highly doubted it belonged to any pirate, judging by the condition his fellows were in, but he stayed open to the idea and became cheerful as well.

"He's their leader on the field" the man continued, stowing the bandana in his pocket, "but he is not our greatest threat. We know who they are! The renegade monster knight, Sir Drakengard, who stood by the heretics side as our king was killed!" A roar of battle cried out with a pump of arms straight into the air. "That phantasmal demon, with the straight hair angled like a damn pyramid on his head, the man with the piercings in his eyebrows! The ghost who can pass through our weapons and grab at our hearts within our own chests! The one they call 'Zan!'" Yet more roaring. Jed got swept up in the excitement and cheered for his death as well. "The dark-haired man with the swords which shoot tiny projectile pellets. They call him 'Rez!'" More cheering. It became a habit.

"Then there is the true leader of the heretic band" he began. The crowd was lowing, on the border between a harsh whisper and crying with the lusting roars of battle to the moving clouds of the sky. "The blonde-headed fiend with the cape of fiery black! The demon with legs that kick like lightning bolts! The heartless bastard who threw down the entire castle on our King's unguarded head!! That man! A man we all know simply by presence! The objective of all our work! His name! IS!!......." That was as far as he got as the leader. He had forgotten Bard's name and stepped down in a moment of confusion, only to have Jed stand up and take his place.

"**Bard!**" he proclaimed. **"Bard D. Samekawa **is his name! He is a hearty, jovial fellow who most likely laughed as our King lay beaten before him only to have his own chest crushed by the fall of his great castle! This childish man, Bard, is the one who felled everything we know and hold dear on this island! He killed our King, our castle, and all our peace!!!"

"DAMN HIM!!!!" the crowd cheered.

"Now let us charge!" Jed ordered. "For the fallen glory of King Rupert Lioncrest!!!"

"YEAAAAAHHHHH!!!!" the crowd cheered. They stampeded up the street, the younger set of adults in front, followed by the slower-paced adults and elder gents and ladies, then the youngest children in the far back with their inefficient weapons wielded so that they may pretend to battle with the adults, though their true purpose was to hold the medical supplies needed for the battlefield. Jed led the charge up the hill and through the ruined barracks yard of the Argent Fist knights when suddenly something within him told him to stop. It was an unknown fear of procession that made him extend both his arms and the 'weapon' he wielded in one to halt the company as they pushed him forward a few steps. His foot hit against a rock which rolled forward, clacked softly onto a hidden length of cloth and then erupted out **a roaring ring of fire!** It encircled the area around the gate they had all desired to charge through and flickered with a proud, uncontrollable hotness.

"What the hell!?" Jed exclaimed.

"Is it magic?" a man asked. "Demon magic?"

"Looks like it" a rough, strong woman said. She sliced off a length of her long, flowing brown hair and tied it to the end of her harvesting scythe. She stuck it through the fire quickly, with a slight jab, and saw the flames trail back, caught on the scythe and licking her hair black. "It's a powerful fire, not just any common brush flame."

"BUCKETS OF WATER!!!" an elder man shouted.

"No!" the woman in front called. "Those won't help. This fire was started by means beyond our power. It will die down, in time." She tapped her scythe on the ground and drove the flames away and onto the stone where they died out in black soot embers. "They just did this to buy themselves time. They're obviously desperate now. We should wait, at least, and hope it doesn't spread to the trees....." As the villagers spoke and moved around the flames to camp themselves at the border of the raging heat, old Harriet watched them from her cave with a witchy cackle.

"Ah, those fools" she said. "Of course it's a prolonged flame! And it won't go down in just a few minutes, either! That's all the flammable eel oil I had stocked away in here since the last time my supplies were replenished! You aren't going anywhere until those fool pirates get themselves moving!" She switched her sights to another Den Den Mushi which was mobile and heading through the trees for a humungous ship....

* * *

At the hag's request, and for his own entertainment, Bard wore the Den Den Mushi that fed the audio and visual of his crew's final setting out from the island. All that they needed was loaded on board. Reginald and Kurateka were along as well to make sure things moved on in a graceful manner. Reginald was unloading boxes with the rest of the Buster Pirate's burly crew while Kurateka was talking with her crew of nurses as they checked crate after crate of working syringes and disposable needles. Bard ran up the long, steep gangplank of stairs to the deck and walked over to Kurateka, tapping her on the shoulder to get her attention. She turned to him and sighed.

"Are you still being so obnoxiously persistent?" she asked. Bard just grinned.

"Are you gonna join my crew?" he asked.

"This is the best I can do" Kura said, turning with open arms presenting her fellow nurses who wore their uniform bandages over their mouths and thick glasses over their eyes, the rest of their outfits alluringly flaunting their young figures. "I can't abandon my post here on the island. It's part of my duty to see everything through to the end, even if the end is so far away that it is simply out of sight. These girls, however, have nowhere to go. They were born on the island and trained by me since birth in the ways of medicine. Healing is the only art they know, and with a crew this size you'll invariably need all the help you can get in a medical sense."

"Alright" Bard said in a defeated voice. "I guess if you're certain, you're certain, and you seem pretty damn certain about yourself. I'm sure you ladies will be able to manage alright, right?" The girls all nodded respectfully. Quiet and polite, they were. Well trained royalty nurses able to set a broken bone as easily as placing an IV tube or setting a patient's bed. It was all in their nature, trained from birth, to nurture others with their healing hands. Plus, finally, the ship had women! Hot young women! Bard was pleased inside, but still kept his disappointment on the surface before Kurateka.

"I just hope" Bard began "that in a fight, they won't be who the enemy goes after first. I mean, if they can't fight, you know...." Kurateka sighed and rolled her only exposed eye at him.

_Honestly_ she thought. _All he thinks about is fighting. He doesn't even consider the sex appeal he could attract with women on board his ship! These girls aren't at all bad looking. They're quite attractive. Possibly even more so than I. I mean, I'm not as young as them anymore. At the least they're eighteen and I'm...._Kurateka was suddenly startled and her eye turned demonic white. She kicked Bard in the gut with her high-heel shoe and forced him to take a step back and weight the damage of the sharp impression in his rock-hard abdomen.

"You see?" Bard said. "Like that! Can they fight like that?"

"How dare you!!!" Kurateka growled as she lowered her leg with a stomp. "You were trying to get me to confess my age to you, weren't you! You horrible man! Can't you even add!? I'm thirty-six going closely to thirty-seven!" The secret was out. Kurateka clapped a hand to her mouth and growled with rage. The nurses came up from behind and trapped her behind a barrier of interwoven gauze restraints as she was curling her fingers and holding a syringe with killing intent. "**I'LL KILL YOU, BOY!!!**"

"Hehehe" Bard nervously chuckled. He turned around and dashed away towards the entrance to the lower deck. He side-stepped a pirate rushing back up to gather supplies and meandered his way around until he found Zan, who was standing half-in, half-out of one of the Grand Mast beams smoking a cigarette. "Hey Zan!" he greeted.

"Hello, captain" he said. "Trying to find someone?"

"Drakengard" Bard said. "I though, since we're about to shove out, I should ask him one last time."

"If you think it'll help" Zan said. "He just passed by here carrying some barrels. I think he's going to the drink storage room, behind the kitchen, near the dining room, so a few levels down." Bard nodded. He knew where those places were. "In the mean time, I'm going to go for a final headcount before we get any _more_ unexpected crew members joining."

"Good plan" Bard said. "I'm off!" And off he went in a quick jog through the halls and stairways that led down. Zan phased his way up through the floor and walked vertically up the wood of the mast until he was a sufficient distance up to see all the pirates coming and going without losing their features. He counted the thirteen newest recruits right away, the men in black overcoats and buckled hats that sang as they heaved and hauled heavy wooden boxes of timber over their shoulders. The other pirates were easy enough for him to recognize.

His detailed assassin's eye didn't miss a thing. He saw Kurateka's nurses and excluded her as she wasn't joining and she was currently laid on the ground with foam bubbling between her bandages around her mouth. Maxwell as asleep in a chair near the aft of the ship. Araly was in the captain's cabin and Rez was in their charting what was left of the island for future reference with her notes. He saw a large group of men loading bags and rough loads of material from their interim camps and tents set up on the plateau during their last stands against the wild villager horde. He saw one individual with a long, red cape and a pulled-up hood wearing a mask. **A golden mask of a fang-faced demon.**

_That's no good_ Zan thought. He quickly jumped from the mast and landed on the deck with a loud thud. He dashed across the expanse and saw the group from the side.

"Hey!" Zan shouted. "This is dangerous. Don't march in such a tight formation! Break up!" The pirates shrugged and moved away from each other. Zan searched their ranks with steel eyes, but saw nothing. The cloaked figure was gone, and with them whatever sharp dagger they carried. Their load wasn't like the other pirate's either. It was luggage. Zan could tell from their way of carrying and stepping in the group that they were being as careful as they could to make sure their items weren't jostled or shifted as they walked.

_Crap_ he thought. _Time to play hide-and-seek, is it?_ Zan phased straight through the floor and dropped in front of a pirate carrying a bundle full of plates which he nearly dropped. _You picked the wrong man to play with, pal._ He tossed his cigarette aside and let someone else step on it while he moved through the walls, ignoring their very presence. The figure had vanished, or had they been there at all? Zan was determined to find out....

* * *

Bard ran through the halls into the long and elegant dining hall and managed to catch Reginald departing from a storage room with empty shoulders and a grin on his face.

"What ho, young Bard?" Reginald said, stopping Bard's flight right at his feet.

"Join my crew" Bard said, short and sweet. He stood before Reginald with his arms on his hips and his black coat's frayed edges hovering over the floor with a great smile and prying glare on his face. Reginald looked away and stroked his solid, pointy beard with deep thought. He seemed to be seriously considering each side of any potential argument that could arise, and beating down any potential points that could counter his own decision. He thought deeply and leaned against a creaking chair for a while until at last he stood with his arms crossed and his eyes forcing down upon Bard down the glaring bridge of his nose.

"**I refuse"** he coldly said.

"Alright" Bard said gladly. "Worth one last try at this point, I guess, but you've got something more important to do, right?" Reginald nodded his head.

"Yes, Bard" Reginald said. "At this point in time, what's most important to me is the experiment I've already started. My entire life has been dedicated to this unprecedented important task thus far, and I cannot surrender it to anything else in the world. Not even the long-aching cry for adventure that rests within my old bones. I am sorry, but I have more than just research on this island. Here, I have a home."

"Wow" Bard said. "That's neat!"

"Yes, it is" Reginald said, "for lack of better....words, I suppose." He and Bard laughed with each other for quite a bit. Bard's warm and childish laughter quickly loosened the nerves in the old warrior and soon they were both laughing from their hearts and lungs and the pits of their guts.

"I am honored to have you consider me, Bard" Reginald said. "To be thought of so highly by a young captain as strong as you is a great honor for a man my age. In my hayday I would have made a bang-up pirate, but alas, those days are gone. It is unfortunate, to say the least, that we couldn't meet sooner."

"Well if we had met sooner" Bard began "I'd just be a little kid and you'd never have taken me seriously. Plus, I'd never have been as strong as I was when I got here if I went on the Grand Line as a kid! That's just common sense! Hehehe!"

"I suppose it is" Reginald said sullenly. The wight of so many years was catching up with him. The remorse and regret of the past two decades, and all the restraint and obstacles that had held him down for those twenty long years had been so suddenly lifted from him that his weightless heart rose up into his throat and he swelled with prideful tears. "Bard, you take great care of yourself. Never give up. Always keep going. Even if the tires are against you, you must push onward. You must make your own current to sail through this sea!" Reginald offered out his hand and Bard, without a second of pause, took it in a firm and manly grip.

"That's what I always do" Bard said. "The sea doesn't know who it's messing with if it tries messing with me!" Reginald smiled. He saw himself in Bard, and only hoped that Bard could see his strength in him the same way. Zan phased down through the ceiling an landed on Bard's shoulder to break up the moment.

"Hey Zan!" Bard greeted. Zan nodded to him and Drakengard and hopped off to phase down even further to the bilge hold.

"Bard, you should get outside" Zan said. "You need to return that Den Den Mushi, then you need to push the boat out before the tides go wrong on us..." Zan phased clear away and reminded both men of their urgent position for the cast off, which neither of them had remembered and broke out in a mad-dashing panic over once they had. It was Bard and Reginald who were to push the boat as the tides that filled its dry-dock trenching pulled back out to sea and they had but one shot for the rest of the day to complete it. If they failed the villagers would find their abandoned camp, search for them an inevitably die in the woods without seeing the pirate ship successfully retreat from them as they sailed off onto the ocean. Bard and Reginald stopped after climbing one floor and ran to the side where the cannons were positioned against the wall beside each port hole that they would jut from in battle.

"This way!" Bard declared. He opened the door and leaped down, landing with a loud, ground-sundering shake of the earth. Reginald followed, slowing himself down by leaping from ledge to ledge until there was nothing left. He groaned as he got up from the ground and followed after Bard. There waited Kurateka, with a syringe filled with a light red liquid.

"What is that?" Reginald asked.

"On your command" she said "I will administer a minor dosage of this instant-strength boosting adrenaline steroid. It's not too potent, but it should do just what you need it to do."

"I'm fine" Bard said. He was already pushing up against the bow of the ship. Reginald positioned himself on the other side of the keel and started pushing.

"I hope we're on time!" Reginald said. He looked over into the trench full of water and saw it begin to fill and retreat back out into the ocean. "Hit me!" he called. Kurateka rushed over and stuck him with the needle, directly in his biggest exposed shoulder vein. Roaring power began to fill him. She disposed of the needle and ran over to Bard, to even him out, but to her surprise their power seemed equally matched.

"**KURUUUUUU!!!!!!"** Reginald roared.

"**SORU PUUUUUUSHHHH!!!!"** Bard announced. His legs blasted mud and dirt from the swampy earth beneath him and sped up his push with the gathered energy of a powerful, dashing sprint forward. He and Reginald powered through their vain struggle and the ship, finally, began moving with the tide out to sea! The water continued to pull it along while the two immensely powerful men pushed it from behind. Their collaborated efforts were nearly a success! Finally, a strong wind picked up that rolled fatefully down the cliff-side.

"Open the port sails!" Rez commanded as he took up the steering wheel. The pirates rushed to the side and down into the under-deck to open the sails on the ship's port side to catch the wind. Reginald's side was lifted of its weight just as he ran out of land to push on. "Starboard sails!" Rez proclaimed. The sails on Bard's side unfolded and opened up, catching the wind. The ship sailed from its harbor in reverse along the pulling current. "Now! Port sails up!" At his command the port sails were raised and the wind started to turn the humungous galleon to the side as it left the swampy shores of the island.

"Farewell!" Reginald shouted. "May your adventures never cease!"

"Make sure my nurses follow their teacher's lessons" Kurateka called. "And make sure they stay honest, pure ladies!" The men from the deck laughed coyly as the girls shyly giggled and waved away. Rez turned his head and looked down the side of the deck, trying to see a trace of Bard. The boy was gone, however, and appeared as a shadow that stomped on the bowsprit right in front of Rez with his legs bent in a crouch and a triumphant, cocky smile on his face. Rez glared up at him.

"Don't break anything" he said sarcastically. Bard turned and looked down at Reginald one last time, a friendly glance above his cocksure smile, and he waved with a fist thrust straight up in the air. The salute of men, from one powerful arm to another, which Reginald replied to with the last bit of his natural strength, extending his arm and halberd straight up in the air! He then fell over into Kurateka's arms.

"Don't exert yourself so" she said. She looked back and heard the cheerful hollering of men from the deck of the boat as it straightened itself out. The sails folded back up, then with a loud unfolding of cloth in the wind, the Grand Sail fell from between the two Grand Masts and caught the breeze, steering them away and along the side of the island's farthest reach. "I wonder how far they'll get to go in this world?" she said.

"All the way, my dear" Reginald said. "A man that young has a long, long ways yet to go...."

* * *

And up upon the high-elevated plateau where the ruined castle lie and where the abandoned encampment of the Buster Pirates was freshly cleaned away, the villagers reached the end of the cliff just in time to watch the pirate begin sailing away, with Jed still at the lead of the mob.

"We're too late" he said, evoking great frustration and anger in the mob behind him. Weapons and hats were thrown down and stomped upon in rage. Growls and roars of rage and fury sounded out as the army arrived to a battlefield long lost to the fairly victorious army that now left with the spoils of their war, the pride of the awakened people hauled in their great, demonic vessel. Jed fell to the ground and wept with tears of hidden joy.

"It's over...finally...." he sobbed.

"Cheer up, lad" an older man said. "There will be more heretics, more demons. This is the last batch of bastards we let slip through our fingers!" Even in their despairing times, the crowd managed to cheer for themselves and shook with the vindicated rage and reassurance that their next war against evil would be won. They were unequivocally certain. They were positive. Dead sure. All of them, even Jed, which is why it made him so joyful to watch the man he knew to be good leaving, hopefully never to return again to be a part of that war....

"Hey, where's she going?" a woman asked. Jed stood up and saw a figure in a dress retreating along the side of the plateau, running along with the ship in the distance to keep up with them as much as possible. "Who is she?"

"Emily....?" Jed whispered. He dropped his weapon and began sprinting after her, sure by his first step that it was his sister running away. "Emily! Wait!!!" Emily huffed and panted after the ship in the far distance, keeping her eye on it, hoping it could see her as well as she could see it.

"Fare thee well, sir Bard" she shouted. "Fare thee and thy company well! Safe voyages! Safe passage! I pray thee well! I pray thee weeelll!!" Jed stopped her with a tackle and held her to the ground, shushing her up close.

"Don't be stupid!" he said. "If these riled-up idiots hear you say that they'll try and kill you!"

"I care not!" Emily said. She rolled out from under him and watched the ship go as it steered its way out to the open ocean. She and Jed watched it flee until the crowd had gathered up behind them to watch in a respectful silence.

"Goodbye, Bard" Jed said. "I......thank you...." He wasn't unheard, but the villagers didn't care. They stood him and his sister up and together they walked along the castle ruins back to the village. There they would rebuild and continue their lives. At least, that's what they _thought_ to do. Jed broke from the group suddenly and walked up to the ruined castle remains.

"Hey" he shouted. "If we're planning for a war, why not build a fortress?" At first there was silence, then a hushed quell of enthusiasm, then the emphatic and exclamatory cheers of approval. The villagers would go nowhere! This was their home now! This was their land, their castle, their island to do as they pleased. Nature took hold once more over the feeble grip of science and humanity overpowered the falsities of a manufactured reality. Nature overcame nurture in these people, and the peace of existence was restored among them.

All thanks to Bard and his crew, the demons in the woods, and the life-long research of a powerful, tired old man.....Ah, the sea is a wondrous place!!!


	99. Repeat Event

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The ship was sailing smooth on the dangerous seas with the crew working hard to keep up with the great creature's demands. Bard D. Samekawa, captain of the Buster Pirates, stood on the bowsprit of his glorious flagship, the Imperial Dragon, with its gigantic sail stretched between two massive masts extending up from even below the main deck like gigantic trees, owning the wind. The side sails, stretched out with the blowing breeze and netted together between three long and slender masts extending out from the side, gave the ship its true draconic image, imitating small wings of billowing black as the humongous Galleon tore through the waves that shook ships half as big and heavy. Bard grinned and let the salty air hit his teeth and breeze through his golden hair.

"Heehee!" Bard laughed. "Arr! Today's a great day for piracy!! What say ye, men!?" Bard spun on his heel to the upper deck, to Rez on the wheel and the pirates around him who hauled thick cords of rope and barrels of stuff around, and waited for them to turn to him.

"ARR!!" they shouted, except for Rez.

"Uhhh...." Rez droned. Bard hopped from the bowsprit to the wheel and stood next to Rez with a beaming smile. Rez didn't flinch. He took a quick look at his new log pose and made sure his course was constant with the straight needle that aimed to a continuous oceanic horizon.

"Come on, Rez!" Bard said. "Can't you act a little more....happy?"

"I don't trust this thing" Rez said. "Who's not to say that Ramone and his crew didn't screw with this thing before handing it over to us? And why would they _want_ to stay the extra length of time it takes for another pose to set if they were so eager to leave that they started a war? It doesn't make sense."

"Yes it does" Bard said. Rez turned up to him skeptically.

"How?" Rez demanded.

"Ramone's the kind of guy" Bard said "that appreciates the value and the process of training. He's just been 'resurrected', so to speak, and needs to get ready to hit the sea before he goes for it again. In a way, I think, he's sort of scared that he won't be able to sail anymore. At the same time, however, he feels an obligation to let me get ahead of him now that we're bound to be on the same route, and since he wants me dead he felt obligated to give me a head start."

"Well, yeah" Rez said, calmly giving in to Bard's apparent logic. "I guess guys like that still exist on the sea, don't they? Honorable monsters and such...." Rez looked again at the pose and adjusted the ship with a calm turn of the wheel against the strong sea current. The floor in front of the wheel suddenly bulged and warped straight up into the shape of a man as Zan climbed his way onto the deck and stood before them both. Bard gave him a wave and grin. Rez looked disgusted.

_I'll never get used to that, will I?_ He wondered.

"Captain" Zan began, "I need to call a crew meeting ASAP. Please get as many people on the deck as you can. Rez, you stay here."

"Alrighty!" Bard said. He hopped from the floor to the railing and then landed with a thud at the sails in the center of the deck. He took in a long, powerful breath and the men around him quickly dropped what they held and braced their ears for his call. **"CREW MEETIIIING! ALL HANDS TO THE DECK!!!STAT!!!"**

"Captain!" a crewman shouted. "'STAT' is a medical term! Not a pirate term."

"Ah, my bad" Bard said. He drew in another breath to repeat but his mouth was covered by several men's hands in an attempt to save their ears.

"We'll spread the word, captain" one said.

"Save your voice" another pleaded "and spare our ears!"

"Hehehehe!" Bard chuckled. In a short time the crew was gathered on the deck. Rez stayed on the wheel to man his station while Zan took a pirate down below to stand-by on the whip staff in case Rez's steering needed some additional force steering. Bard stood before his gathered crew, a good many men, over fifty now, with the addition of the group of cute, gauze-wrapped nurses standing by at the side of the crowd.

"What news hath ye, good sir Bard?" a black-dressed former guard of Okumaiwa's Paladin guard asked.

"What's up?" Marco asked for his behalf of the crew. Bard just shrugged.

_Oh, what the hell....!?_ the crew thought in exasperation. Zan phased his way up from the lower deck, nonchalant as he always was, smoking a cigarette with a calm, smug grin on his face. He let out a wisp of smoke and finished off the cigarette before snuffing it out in the palm of his hand.

"I called this meeting" Zan said "under my position as Helmsman."

"Screw you!" Rez shouted. He was leaning over the railing with a face ablaze with rage. "Who's at the helm now if you're the Helmsman, smart-ass!?"

"Who _is_ at the helm?" Zan asked. Rez straightened up and ran back to the wheel, catching it just in time to regain control from the chaotic swelling currents of the sea. "Anyway" Zan said, turning back to the crew, "we have a problem. It seems, somehow, an oversight has occurred. No one is to blame and there is no fault to dispense. Just like last time it is an unavoidable incident."

"Last time?" a pirate asked.

"What're you saying?" Marco asked. "We've only been a crew for so long, there's not a lot a 'last time' can entail."

"Correct" Zan said. "In saying that, once again, it seems a **stowaway** has crept on board." The crew let out a united, exasperated groaning. A mixture of disappointment in their gathered ranks and their inability to spot what seemed to be an obvious problem from the beginning had insulted their honor as powerful men on the open sea.

"Not again!" Marco groaned. "Every damn time we port something like this just has to happen, doesn't it!?"

"I blame Bard!" another pirate called. "This never happened when Maxwell was out captain!"

"EH!?" Bard exclaimed. "Me? Wait, what-How is this a huge problem!?"

"We've got a _stowaway,_ Bard!" Marco said. "I shouldn't have to explain why that's bad!"

"But Zan was a stowaway" Bard argued "and now he's a part of the crew! And besides, he's an assassin but no one died when he came aboard!"

"Indeed" Zan said. "However, I have reason to believe that yet another assassin has made his way on board _with_ the intent to kill someone, most likely either me or Rez." The spirits of the crew sank from an aggravated exasperation to disbelief and depressing rage. Their faces all sank with the depressing energy, their jaws open and their lips bulbous and pursed and their eyes shadowed by their heavy, jutting brows.

"Same as it ever was...." someone mumbled. The Paladin guards just went with the spirit around them and looked mightily disappointed as well. The nurses......were expressionless, so far as anyone could tell.

"At least one thing hasn't happened again" Bard said hopefully. "Remember how Zan tried to kidnap Araly?" Zan's face went blank. A piercing scream came from the captain's room. The crew glared up at Bard who had frozen his face in fear with Tekkai.

_If anyone wants to hit me they'll have to hit past my iron defense!!!_ Bard thought, prepared for a battle...

* * *

As the meeting started Araly sat in the captain's room within her free-hanging webbing of hammocks and nets to ward off her sea-sickness. She read, the only thing she had to do while on the ship. The ship came with its own personal gathering of adventurous novels and historical texts written by Marines and Pirates alike, voicing their many adventures, the secrets to their success and at very odd times the mention of hidden treasures that lay dormant on the Grand Line. She read and read, trying to do what she could as a researcher, a studious young lady with all the free time she could stand to have on the sea, waiting for the next chance she had to be on solid earthen ground again.

But the more she read the more depressed she became until not even the true-life accounts of a long-since passed former Vice-Admiral K. could keep her spirits up. She sat back and laid down in her swinging hammock, letting the cloth close her sides and wrap her in an open sort of pod shape, a private cocoon. She pulled at her faux covers and glared at the floor.

"This sucks" she said. "I wish I could just stand straight on a ship, but I guess that's too much to ask! Why am I so unfortunate? Bard gets to run around all day, doing exciting things and giving orders and being important and worth something...all I can do is lay here while everything else happens above me and I can't even help. I can't do anything....just sew and hem....Why am I here? I know I don't have a bounty. I can just turn myself in to the Marines, tell them I was held hostage by pirates and go home. Sure, I'll still have to be on a ship to get there, but then I'll never have to set foot on a moving floor for the rest of my life...."

Araly curled herself up and frowned to the wall. She was still and static for a while. The door to the room opened up and shut. Soft foot falls were in the room. Araly rose her head slightly but didn't bother to turn full around and acknowledge whoever had come in. Her spirits were too far shot to care anymore.

"Who's there?" she asked. The feet stopped but the entrant stayed silent. Their presence lingered with a seemingly urgent feeling, as if they wanted to force Araly out of her downed mood simply by proxy. Araly sighed. "What happened out there? I don't here anyone shouting or any hollering. Is it so boring that someone has the free time to check on me?" The figure remained silent. Araly sighed again. "Oh, are you one of those new nurses we got? You probably can't do anything for it, but I have some bad sea sickness. It gets to the point where I can't even lay down in a moving ship without feeling incredibly sick, and if I try to move around I get nauseous and have to throw up almost immediately. Did Bard tell you about it?" Still no answer.

Whoever it was, they weren't there to talk or move or do anything but offer their ceaseless presence. Araly tilted her head up and turned, just enough so her mouth could be seen but not her eyes which her curly blue bangs covered. "Have you found a good purpose on the ship yet?" she asked. "Have plenty of the men been stopping by for nursing yet? I guess everyone's in pretty good shape since Kurateka took care of all of us, but it's not odd at all once we're out here for someone to hurt themselves. I wouldn't hold it above Bard to have already started a fight and hurt one of the crew members. I guess being busy with something you love is better than having all the time in the world and nothing to do with it....that's where I am right now. I've got nothing to do, since I can't actually walk out on the deck, but read these books and hope there's something worth reading in them, like treasures or lost islands or sunken ships of ancient warlords and stuff.....that'd catch Bard's attention for sure...."

The figure had no intention to respond. It was clad all in bloody red with a draping cape covering its front and **a golden demon-faced mask hiding its true form.** A hood pulled up and into the rear of the mask, latching away the rest of its head from view. One of the Crimson Killers with their hands hidden behind their long, thick scarlet robes. They stood, perfectly still, breathing slightly through the holes of the mask they wore, and patiently waited.

"I wish I had a better stomach" Araly said, still venting out all her personal frustrations onto the stranger she didn't even know she didn't know yet. "That way I could help the crew out on the ship instead of sit in here and read books. Who ever heard of a crew where someone important did nothing all day but read books!?"

"At least you are learned" the stranger said. Araly didn't recognize the voice and turned over immediately. She saw only red as the cape was thrown around her and her mouth was held by a soft and tender hand. "Not perceptive, mind you, but learned." Araly bit the hand and forced herself to the floor in a panicked crawl. The stranger threw the cape down on her again and stabbed into the floor beside her head with a short, straight stab of a thick-tipped weapon. Araly saw it and reacted. She screamed fearfully. A moment later she was picked up, a weapon sharply held to her neck, and forced out of the door, yet again, as a hostage. Zan was already standing in the captor's way with a slight, smug grin

"Hi" Zan said, increasing his grin to a toothy, sneering smile. "How ya doin?" He kicked between Araly's leg and caught the villain's leg with a stab. They fled with a side step and threw Araly into Zan. Zan spun with her and placed her carefully on the floor before he went running off after them. Then he looked into their hand and saw their weapon fully revealed.

_Is that an arrow?_ Zan wondered. He stopped himself and phased down into the wood. Through the floor he swam after his prey, emerging as they hit the staircase with the rest of the crew in full flight. Zan jumped up onto the railing and ran after the fleeing assassin. Rez caught the stranger next with a sudden choking clothesline. Once caught Rez stepped forward and swung his arm, throwing the stranger into the railing of the upper deck with a shriek of pain. Rez flexed his arm with a cocky grin and Zan apprehended the criminal with a blade to their neck.

"Don't move, _princess_" he said. The stranger turned their head to him and looked through the dark holes with red eyes.

"How did you know?" Gretta asked. "It was obvious, wasn't it?" Zan said. Gretta, having never been pursued with such a murderous drive at her heels, and never having been choke-slammed with a man's arm before, fainted. In her darkness she felt the stirring of her ruggedly scrapped armor and cloth and the movement of her body somewhere else....

* * *

"Wake her up somehow" someone said. They sounded gruff and demanding, somewhat angry at some passive stream of events. "I'm tired of waiting for this little runt to open her eyes anymore! Just dump some water on her and wake her up!"

"Can't" another, wiser, more calm-sounding man said. "Captain's orders. This is the princess from that island, so we need to figure out what we're going to do with her before we do anything to her."

"She's not even tied tight enough" the man said. Gretta stirred to their conversation and beheld, thankfully, that her mask was still attached, as was her hood from behind. She very quietly struggled her hands and found that they were tied. She couldn't see it, but ropes were run across her body in twenty rows of bands, all tied together and weighed down with cannonballs slung into the loops to keep her firmly stayed on her sitting prison of a mess hall chair. The weight was all focused on keeping her from moving, rather than pressing her down with an unbearable, crushing pressure.

"She's tied tight enough" the second man said. "She can move around all she wants, she's going nowhere until the captain shows up."

"What's he doing, anyway?" the first asked impatiently. "At least Zan could make some decisions around here and get here on time. He doesn't even have to go down the stairs! He can just drop straight through the floor and show up-boom!-like that!"

"Would he show up with a 'boom'?" the second said.

"......" the first silently glared, a spiteful glance that Gretta could feel even under the blind shadow of her mask. "Damn you....shut up, ass" the first growled. Finally a door opened and the two moved out. Many footfalls came into the room and some weapons clattered softly against themselves. One person's feet sounded heavier than any other's and Gretta knew who would be the first to see her face as she felt the steady, strong grip take the sides of her mask and pull back her hood.

"Now!" Bard exclaimed. "We shall see who this mysterious intruder is!" Bard removed Gretta's mask and threw it into the waiting hands of a pirate who caught it. The pirates reeled away in disbelief when they saw her face. Bard let out a loud, airy gasp. "It's......the **Baker!!!**" he shouted. The crew ignored his rampant idiocy and just looked at Gretta. Rez stepped up and shoved Bard with a quick push at his neck.

"What!?" Rez shouted. Bard, confused, leaned away from him. "The _Baker!?_ Who!? _WHO!?!?!?_ Who the hell is **THE BAKER!!!" **Rez kicked Bard and pushed him away again.

"Calm down, Rez" Zan said, standing behind Gretta.

"NO!" Rez shouted. "I'm not letting this crap slide!"

"Just let it go" a pirate said. "I mean...it's Bard." Bard took a second look and gave out another exclaimed gasp at Gretta.

"Ah! It's the princess!" he shouted. Rez degraded his speech to animistic growling and fuming and reached for his guns. Men crowded him and held his arms away from his hips where his gunblades were holstered and carried him away.

"GAAAHHH!!!" Rez shouted as he was taken from the room. "Even _I_ knew who the hell it was!!! What's wrong with him!!???" His voice faded off as he was forced away to the new infirmary deck to be sedated from his rage. Bard, meanwhile, undid as much of Gretta's binds as he could with simple pulls and jerks of the ropes.

"Mr. Demon" Gretta said, obviously speaking to Zan behind her, "you aren't going to send me back, are you?" Zan circled around to her front and stayed two steps away from her. "I cannot go back. I revile that horrid place. All my life I wanted to be at sea, so that I may see the world that I'd been denied." Zan nodded understandingly. Bard finally undid the final knot of rope and pushed her up with a hand to her back. Bard smiled down at her and stepped equally away. "I don't know what help I could be, but I would very much like to stay on this ship. I simply cannot return to that cursed land. I refuse."

"That's good" Bard said. "We're so far away I don't think we could get back if we _wanted_ to."

"True" Zan said. "Once you're out at sea with a destination, that's where you're going. The Grand Line is a straightforward mess of blood, battle and unsightly terrors that give it the most gruesome reputation in the world."

"Way to brighten our spirits, man" a pirate said in dejection. The rest stifled their laughs. Bard gave a high chuckle as well.

"In fact" Zan began, "there's an entirely different reason why we bothered to keep you here in the first place." Gretta's eyes lit up at him. She was enchanted by him and drew near him, prompting him to walk with his back to the wall and phase through the hull, brightening Gretta's eyes even more as she searched the room for him. Zan landed from the ceiling behind her and spun her around. "We can always use crew members. We need this ship filled at some point."

"Yup!" Bard said. "So, will you join my crew, Bard's Buster Pirates?" Gretta looked between Bard and Zan and the crew members gathered with a sincere confusion. Her heart beat loudly within her armored chest and she forced herself between the men and through the crowd to run out of the room in a flight of frenzied thought. "Did I ask wrong?" Bard asked. Zan smirked.

"She's just afraid" Zan said. "I'll keep after her and ask for you."

"Yes, good!" Bard said. "Go and do that! We need her on the crew! To fight!"

"What if she can't fight?" a man asked. Bard turned to him with a flat, expressionless face, stared him down until he flinched back and then turned forward again with a fist clenched up and a sparkle in his eyes.

"Yeah!" Bard said with a grin. "Her fighting will be a great addition to the crew!"

_Is that your only condition!?_ The pirates thought together.

* * *

Zan found Gretta leaning against the railing of the main deck, watching the sea roll by far below and far away in the dim, clouded light of the storm-skied Grand Line. He silently climbed up from the floor and moved behind her to look over her held-down white hair.

"How'd you get this armor?" he asked. Gretta glanced over her shoulder and turned back to stare out to sea.

"When Bard was pulling me out of the castle ruins" she explained "we found a hollow, saved area of the main foyer where many men with strange red clothing and golden masks lie dead. I wanted him to stop and rest, for he exerted himself so much that I felt he deserved a break, and I took the armor and cape of the most whole-clad being I could find to save for later. In truth, I shamefully admit, I had begun to orchestrate my coming to this ship since that moment....I am sorry that I have caused you all so much trouble, but I am truly willing to learn and willing to work to find my place here. Even if I cannot fight, I wish to stay on this ship, with this crew, and see the world for all it is worth...." Gretta, having said her piece, fell silent and waited for Zan to respond. She heard something click and felt a feint heat at her side. Zan had lit a cigarette and was smoking it beside her. The wind picked up and blew the solid edges of his hair while fluffing hers out in its rolling, white strands.

"We're a pretty active crew" Zan said. "We won't shove you off or maroon you if you don't throw your weight here and there, but we don't ask everyone to kill themselves for the crew. If you don't want to fight, you won't have to fight. If you can't carry ropes, you won't carry ropes. If you want to get stronger, you'll get stronger. Even if you don't want to be stronger, staying here will undoubtedly make you stronger. No matter where we go on this ocean we're going to end up fighting, training or doing something incredibly stupid and unnecessary thanks to our captain's orders and tendency to get involved in all the wrong places....still, if you want to see the world, this is the best place to be, because that's exactly what we're doing."

Gretta smiled. She moved her soft, fluffy head into Zan's hard, defined arm. Zan froze up and let smoke billow neutrally into the strengthened wind. His cigarette blew from his mouth and Gretta was thrown into him.

"Oh, damn" Zan said as the wind knocked him off of his balance. He pressed his feet down into the floor and phased his legs with the wood to keep himself and Gretta up. "Storm!"

"A storm?" Gretta repeated. "From where? It wasn't very windy just a moment earlier."

"That's how it goes" Zan said. The crew moved out onto the deck just as the rain started.

"AH, it gets worse!" a pirate shouted. Bard sprinted across the deck, a blur of blond followed by shadowy black, leaped from the deck to the helm and braced the jerking wheel.

"No!" Bard shouted. "**It's just getting GOOD!!!**" The storm kicked up from nowhere and blasts of lightning and thunder shook the spines of the crew as they moved with rushing speed across the deck, stomping against the wind to raise the sails and yard the line. Zan phased through the floor and left Gretta by herself to stand up with her white hair clouding around her delicate, white face and red eyes. She watched the crew move in singularity, with a connection of their minds, all going where they needed to be, doing what they needed to do, not a second of hesitance or remiss of thought, and she smiled. She not only smiled but widened her eyes and felt the surge of great, magnificent energy shake her body and tense her fists.

_Yes_ she thought. _Yes! I will do it! I must!_

"Hey, girl!" a man shouted. He tossed to Gretta a thick coil of rope. "Tie that down!" Gretta was hit by the rope and stumbled back into the railing. She hurt her lower back but still grinned brightly. She was guided by the panicked pointing of passing pirates where the rope had to be tied. She nearly lost it to he wind but caught it after a short chase and wound it around a metal hook protruding from the deck. She wound it around and around until it wound itself off the end of the hook, then she tried to tie it. The rain and wind slowed down to a halt finally and the crew all collapsed in the light, bright sky, flat on the deck, while Gretta finally finished her sloppy knot. She breathed hard and fell to the deck.

_I can do this_ she said, feeling her hands burn and her lungs ache. _I can...I can...._ and then she fainted again with a grin on her face. Zan rose up from the floor and looked at her exhausted face. He sighed and stepped up onto his legs, shaking his head with a grin and a down-cast glance.

"You'll get stronger" he said. "Just you wait, girl. You'll be surprised at yourself..." Gretta slept calmly, peacefully, like she was still a princess in her bed, but the hard wood of the deck gave her more exhilarating pleasure to sleep upon than her comfy, soft bed from her past. She was in the present, sleeping on a soaked ship deck after working a fraction of what the hardened men of the sea had done in a fraction of the time, and she was happy.


	100. Us Against the World!

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

Thank you all for supporting me through 100 Chapters!!!

* * *

After the chaos of the former day, the crew of the Imperial Dragon had fallen into the straights of Grand Line travel, all while ushering into their privileged midst their newest crew member, delicate princess Gretta Lioncrest, who was dressed spare clothes from the storage from far below deck while her assassin's garb was being washed. They were frilly and lacy enough to look like a girl's clothes with plenty of petal-pattern laces running down the outer seam of the tightly-hemmed pants and the shirt was robust and royal enough looks, all of which poised the question of just what kind of crew the Buster crew had inherited their ship from in the first place....

None of that rang important, especially not to Bard, who only cared for action, and was currently resting with his arms draped over the end of the long bowsprit. A cool sea wind breezed through his hair and he groaned.

"Bored?" Zan asked. Bard opened his eyes and saw Zan half-fused into the wood of the bow, crouching from his upside-down position to face Bard eye-to-eye. Bard brought up his arms and leaned up on them.

"Isn't that scary?" Bard asked. "If you fall you'll die, right?"

"Not if you're fast enough" Zan said. "Gretta seems to be adjusting well, if you wanted to know."

"That's great" Bard said. "I'm glad she had such a change of heart for no reason at all. It's good for me, though, so it doesn't really matter." Bard smiled. Zan saw his carefree nature shining out from his wide, childish grin, but he couldn't see past the obvious glaze of apathy that was still around him. Zan stood up, upside-down, and let his feet sink only ankle-deep into the wood.

"Hey Captain" Zan said. Bard looked down and saw Zan slowly drifting away. His feet were slowly drawing out of the wood of the bowsprit. Bard's carefree expression of boyish, hayday joy started fading to a swell of concern and shock. "Catch" Zan said. He parted from the ship and started free falling down, straight down. He smiled and let his bangs hide his eyes. Bard grabbed the tip of the bowsprit, flipped his way onto the underside of the wood, crouched his legs and made a powerful jump straight down. He caught Zan, threw him up onto the bowsprit and continued to fall. It was a good six or seven stories worth of air between the bowsprit jutting from the elevated helm to the water below which chopped loudly against the keel of the boat.

"Geppou!" Bard shouted. He bent his legs in and kicked with both feet at the air, blasting off with a kick off of literally nothing, up about twenty feet, which was just shy enough of the bowsprit to force his legs to pedal in the vainest hope of climbing up the extra few inches needed. Zan bent down and grinned down at Bard.

"Thanks, captain" Zan said as he walked down the bowsprit to the upper deck. Bard gave up and waved him away as he fell back down.

"Anytiiiiime!" Bard called. He fell into the water with a hard splash, but he was fine. He was a superior swimmer, thankfully, and so his dive was perfect and gave him no damage. He swam down under his ship and watched it speed through the dark sea waters. He stayed close to it, swimming against its own force, all along its impressive length until he reached the rudder. He made a sudden turn in the air and angled himself up just enough to swim up after his shim without ascending too fast. He managed to take a hold of the rudder and coasted with his ship's speed as he climbed up, one strong arm at a time.

"Bwah!" Bard surfaced and looked around. His ship's enormous aft end extended up with rear windows and cannon slots latched down to ward off pursuing ships evenly spotting the broad wall in a straight row and column pattern. Then he looked behind. The waves his ship stirred up in the sea were impressive, to say the least. They clashed with the natural waves of the arrogant ocean and smashed all to a neutral foam, bringing an odd peace in the ship's mighty wake. Schools of fish down below swam under the shadow of the ship, using it as protection against the mightier predators that saw the great beast's belly as a living, breathing monster. A Sea King coasting along with the wind and with the tides, traveling on a straight and distant course to a land far, far across the waves.

Bard began climbing the nearly sheer wall of his ship, gripping the sealed spaces between each thick, wide cut of lumber that made and under each window until his hand met the railing of the aft of the ship. He flipped himself up onto solid deck again and looked around. He first had to shrug off his heavy, soaking cloak and draped it over his shoulder. The wind picked up and blew his hair from behind. The Grand Sail of the ship was open and catching the breeze, pushing the great ship forward through the sea and over its waves. Bard shook his head and sprayed a light, salty mist around his shoulders. He looked to his right and saw Max in his chair, loudly slumbering. Bard grinned and picked the chair, with Max in it, up by a leg and started carrying it with a beaming smile.

"Hey captain!" a pirate called. "We've got some time, how bout a tournament again?"

"Sure!" Bard called. "Let me just get this guy out of the sun!" Bard opened a random door, looked in the darkness where there was no sun shining, and placed Maxwell there.

"....raining is it? Not again...always raining...." he muttered unconsciously. Bard slammed the door and nodded.

"Better for him to be in there, I guess" Bard said. The wind picked up and he looked over his shoulder, past the great black shadow of his sail, to the sky which started to roll with thick, white clouds that built up to gray and a distant, menacing black. Bard whipped the water from his coat and threw it into the room with Maxwell, draping it over him and forcing him to breathe into it when he snored. "Rails the sail!" Bard ordered. "We've got rain incoming!"

"RAISE THE SAIL!!!" a pirate shouted. Ten men, five on port and five on starboard, manned the ropes and levers that held the heavy sail in place. They let them loose and watched the sail furl itself up and away like the dramatic drawing of a stage curtain, and the ship slowed. "Lower ballasts in all quarters" Bard called as he marched across deck. A man ran down to the underdeck to repeat the orders and weight the ship's pivotal points to lessen its stirring in the stormy seas. "Brace the furniture!" he ordered again. He marched all the way to the foredeck and jumped from lower to upper in a single bound, landing behind Rez who was sturdy at the helm. Bard placed a hand on Rez's shoulder, to which the duelist nodded and moved, giving Bard the helm.

"Don't screw up!" Rez shouted. "I'll be on the whip-staff below to keep you on course."

"Got it!" Bard called. Zan melded up through the deck and leaned on the wheel, sure it wouldn't move if it was in Bard's hands.

"Where am I going?" Zan asked.

"Where's Gretta?" Bard asked.

"Finding a decent room" Zan said. "Right now she's in yours."

"GAH!" Bard exclaimed with a mouth wide open. Zan smirked and started down again at an angle, descending as if scaling down stairs.

"I'll try and get her to move along" Zan said. "And I'll check on Araly for you."

"Thanks Zan!" Bard said. Zan melded through the floor and out of view, leaving Bard to do his heroic, captain's duty. Thunder crashed and lightning flashed. The winds were roaring and the ship was turning. Bard could feel Rez pulling the ship to the right and Bard did the same, turning hard to starboard with the wheel, adding extra force to the powerful rudder in the water to fight the stirring currents. The rain finally began. Bard was the only man above deck, determined to face nature and fight it out, determined to win.

"Come on!" Bard roared with his battle-ready face. "I'll show this whole world what this ship can do with the strongest at its helm!" He let go of the wheel, allowing it to spin itself to port and straighten the rudder out, then gripped it with an unflinching, powerful grip. **"You've got nothing world! NOTHING!!!**" And he continued roaring like that all through the storm...

* * *

Gretta had spread herself on the bed and selfishly wrapped the covers around her shoulders as she read one of the books Araly had tossed away in a fit she walked in on. Araly was still shamefully turned away in embarrassment and listened to the storm outside beating on the walls. Zan stepped down through the wall and stood on the carpet, dripping wet from the rain. Gretta turned away with her eyes already sparkling while Araly shielded herself from getting splashed.

"Either of you girls have a light?" Zan asked as he placed a wet ciargette in his mouth. Araly threw a book at his head and it phased through him and bounced off the floor, amazing Gretta even more.

"You're soaking wet!" Araly lowed with a demonic scowl. "Get off the carpet!"

"That tattoo isn't working too well anymore, is it?" he asked.

"It's working fine" Araly said. "I was so shocked at you suddenly appearing that all my surprise was converted into anger, so it's sort of boiling over....and now it's gone. What do you want?"

"Cold!" Zan said. "I just came in to check on how you two were doing." The ship tossed in the churning waves. Araly heard Bard howling at the wheel.

"The wind out here is amazing!" Gretta said at the whooing.

"That was Bard" Araly corrected. She sighed and slouched back into her loose, free-swinging hammock while Gretta, lost in her awe, was slowly slid off of the bed with a shout. Zan hopped over and knelt down to her.

"You okay, princess?" Zan asked.

"Am I still a princess" Gretta asked "with no castle or royal ties?"

"If you don't want to be a princess" Zan said "I'm willing to call you something else."

"....I don't mind it" she said. She moved herself into the shell of covers she took with her off the bed and tightened up in shyness. Zan rose up with a smirk and turned to Araly.

"How have you been?" Zan asked.

"Bored" Araly said. "Isn't there anything else I can do here but read?"

"Didn't you get a parting gift from that witch woman?" Zan asked. "All that eel oil and ink could be used by a trainee alchemist like you to do some great things on this ship."

"If I could managed to get out of this stupid hammock long enough to do anything" Araly protested. She sighed and fell flat over. "What are dinners like?" Gretta rose up, still wrapped in her comforting blankets.

"They don't let you eat?" Gretta asked.

"Araly has debilitating sea-sickness" Zan explained. "She can't stand up for long without-"

"She knows that" Araly said. Gretta nodded.

"Ah" Zan said. "Well, don't I look foolish? Obviously she can't join the crew for mess, which it ususally becomes, so Bard just saves her a plate of food and brings it up to her."

"And mine's usually burnt" Araly complained "or undercooked or....something."

"You never get sick, though" Zan said. "Look at it from the crew's stand point. The less potentially dangerous food for them to eat, the more jobs can get done." Zan didn't see Araly's face, but by the tension he saw in her back and the force with which she curled up in her bedding he knew he had upset her and sighed.

"You can eat anything?" Gretta said in awe. "Even if it hasn't been prepared properly? What if it's poison?" Araly turned her head a little bit just to acknowledge her. "I though you were just a bookish whining girl who complained over being on a ship she had no place being on..." Zan was about to attempt to silence her and drag her away, but Gretta redeemed herself. "...but being unconquered even by poison; you have an amazing talent, Araly!" Araly blushed and grinned. She turned around, trying to hide her excitement with a blushed, bashful demeanor, and modestly sat up.

"Oh, it's nothing too fantastic" Araly said. "It's not like I can eat my enemies into submission, right?"

"But you're immune to such dreadful effects!" Gretta said. "I've been sick before. It was awful. I was forced to my bed while my servants told me how lucky I was to have survived my heated battle against the demonic sickness. They had to apply and reapply wet cloth to my head and make sure I ate just enough soup to not fill myself with but, also, to stay satiated with..."

"That's some ordeal" Zan said with a sarcastic raise of his brow. Araly shot him an glance in agreement.

"My castle had a royal taste-tester" Gretta went on "to make sure what I and my father were eating was not hazardous to our health. Though nothing unfortunate ever befell them, I always felt indebted to them somehow, even though they were simply doing their job for my father, the sham of a man that he was. You could do that, couldn't you? Offer yourself to greater, unanticipated dangers for the rest of the crew?"

"No" Araly said "because how would I know if something's poisoned or not? I can't taste if it's posioned."

"Can you taste at all?" Gretta asked.

"Sweet things" Araly said "and full flavors, like meats or really juicy fruits. Only strong flavors. Some foods just taste bland to me."

"It's still amazing" Gretta went on in praise. Zan backed away and waved farewell to Araly as he descended through the floor, leaving Gretta without a goodbye or a parting glance, as she continued awing at Araly's apparent skill. "You're much more than the girl I thought you were, Araly. What else can you do?" Araly felt a bit moved, even humbled, by Gretta's constant girlish fawning and boosting.

_I guess she's never met many different people_ Araly thought. _Most of her servants must have been brainwashed or ordered by her father to be uninteresting for some reason, maybe to keep her daughter bored and submissive. Now that she's meeting so many people and learning so much about the world, she sees things she's never seen and is excited about it all._

"Well" Araly went on, turning around and laying her body Gretta's way, "even though Bard likes to boast and flex his muscles, I can still give him a punch that doubles him over in pain for a long time."

"Really?" Gretta asked.

"Yeah" Araly said, palming her arm as she jokingly flexed it for her. "I guess I'm pretty strong in my own way, eh?"

"It's amazing" Gretta said with a sigh. She sat on the edge of the bed and couldn't hide her smiling, her sincere grinning and distant, loving gaze into space. She slowly brought her hand up to her chin and dipped her head, heavy with thoughts. "The world I've never known. It's a truly amazing place, isn't it?"

"It hasn't been all bad so far" Araly said, rolling over onto her back. "You should stay and see how much more amazing it gets from here."

"I will" Gretta said. "But, like you, I need to find a place where I can belong in this 'crew', you call it. I need my position, my place....I wonder if I could try out to be an archer?" As Gretta mused, to herself, Araly turned around and looked at her reachable mound of books on the table beside her risen hammock. The ship rocked again and Gretta gripped the edges of the bed while Araly hung neutral to the ship's motions in her free-swinging sling.

_But where should I go?_ Araly wondered. Now she began thinking as well, trapped by a ground she couldn't stand to walk on and her desire to help and carry the burden that was her ship, her crew, and her Captain's quest....

* * *

All was well and the seas were calm. The ship stayed on course through the wearing weather. Rez checked and rechecked the position on the log pose to be straight along with the needle and grinned with building, excited laughter.

"He did it!" Rez exclaimed. "He's a...multi-talented guy, isn't he?" Rez let go of the whip-staff and saw the levers, ropes, gears and locks attaching it with the wheel up top stay perfectly calm and still. He ran up to the deck above to a shining sun and a bright, clean and brisk air. The rain was over, the deck was drenched and dripped over the sides of the ship. Rez inspected everything with a careful eye.

"Take it down!" a pirate shouted. Men were coming back out to bring the main sail back down again and steal the wind that blew up behind them. "We still on course, you figure, Rez?" a pirate shouted.

"Oh yeah" Rez said. He checked again and saw the needle leading down the bow of the ship. Though they were obviously still days away, they stayed on course. "Let's catch some wind!"

"ARRR!!!" the pirates shouted, stirred by Bard's own doctrines of pirateering. Rez chuckled and shook his head as he walked for the upper deck. Behind the wheel Bard's breath continued to fume out of his grit teeth and glaring grin. He was frozen in a fighter's mind, his eyes flashing a powerful force and his brow heavily furrowed. He was stayed on his focus on the horizon and his burning, endless desire to destroy it as a fighter. His want to fight tightened his grip to wring the expertly smoothed knobs of the wheel he gripped and they creaked under his pressure.

"Nice job up here, Captain" Rez said. "You want me to reclaim the wheel for you?"

"Look at it, Rez" Bard said, straightening his back, wielding the knobs of the wheel down close to his hips with his full height and extension of arms. "Look at this ocean." Rez turned to the horizon and crossed his arms with a nod.

"It's a big one, captain" Rez said. "It's a wild, unruly graveyard of fools and the victory ground of powerful men, some of _them_ self-admitted fools as well. Do you think we're foolish enough to master it?"

"Haven't we mastered it already?" Bard asked, departing from the wheel. Rez leaned onto it to keep it in place and watched Bard circle around to the front of the helm. "This ocean commands the smallest ships with the biggest waves, but our ship is a natural on the water. Even the creatures of the sea recognize that and take shelter in our shadow under the rolling waters. This ship, this dragon that slides across the waves on its belly, is a vessel that contains more than a crew. It contains power! Unlimited power, raw and unwieldy! Its crew, an embodiment of that strength! The verses of its created strength!"

"Is 'unwieldy' really a choice word, Bard?" Rez asked, bringing Bard down from his detaching fighting mind and slowly back to the grace of his foolish ambition.

"Think of it, Rez" Bard said. "Any single man, with training, can become stronger. Any army can be strong if they're trained. Talent and born power and the unnatural abilities of superiority that some are blessed with are only as good as they are trained to be. Even me, a guy born with strength, is nothing without the strength of training." Rez saw where this was going and checked the ship's course for a final time. Bard chopped his hand to the hard wood of the wheel to draw Rez's eyes to his beaming, smiling, fight-ready face. "We need to train, Rez! This crew is the strongest on the entire Grand Line! I'll work them all to the bloody bones so that no matter who we face, no matter who our enemies are or where they hail from, we'll all take them down. Our fists will pound waves into the sea, and our legs will kicks storms out of the clouds! That is my aim, our destination! Can you see it?" Rez looked to the horizon.

He saw many things. He saw the path they took, winding and chaotic but eventually the same as any other, destined to be repeated by another man with the same desires as they had now. Rez saw a great wall of invisibility blocking his view over the rounded, rolling waves far, far away and a shining promise of future in the glow of the sun and the blue of the sky. He saw boundless possibilities with his fast eyes and with his mind he saw Bard's calculations finding a way to work those futures into reality. Rez could see it and it made him move. He walked past the wheel, past the helm and onto the bowsprit which was wide enough for him to walk to the end of and stand with one foot in front of the other. He saw it all, for the first time, all his obstacles and barriers smashed down by fists. Not Bard's fists, but his own, bloodied, toughened, strong fists.

_I get it now_ Rez suddenly realized. Revelation had struck him. Epiphany invaded his mind. Just as the salty air swept through his short black hair he felt a surge of life pulsate through him and he reached out to touch that horizon, to touch that future, and hold it firm. _His goofy, stupid arrogance isn't just some dumbass drive forward blindly. He knows how things will be. He knows what strength can bring us if we listen and train. He knows what we can do. Bard knows what any man can be, and he wants all of us to exceed that not for him, but for us! He doesn't want anything. He just wants to hold strength in its true form....and so do I!_

"Bard!" Rez shouted. "I want that! I want that strength!" He turned around and saw Bard behind him, gazing out over him at the expansive heavens. He jumped and nearly lost his balance but recovered as Bard grabbed his hand and pulled him up straight. Rez breathed hard and looked down at the inhuman length he'd have to survive falling if he lost his footing completely. He sighed and took Bard's strong, hard hand in both of his and shook it once he was standing firmly again. "Bard, we need to work toward that strength! That indomitable willpower! That undefeateable spirit! All of us...**we need TRAINING!!!"**

"**HELL YES!!!"** Bard shouted. He threw Rez to the helm where he landed and rolled back to his feet, still deep in his own exciting revelation. Bard rushed to the rear of the helm and leaned over the railing just in time to see his black sail and seething draconic symbol unfurl and catch the winds that blew behind, pushing the ship forward with all the force nature gave it. He grinned, took in a deep, long breath and then roared out "**LINE UP FOR TOURNAMENT NOOOOWWWW!!!!"** The pirates, as if unconsciously, secured their last knot and dropped their burdens where they stood. In practically no time everyone was gathered on the main deck, fists tensed, eyes set and attitudes all combined into one fierce and palpable feeling, a living a breathing urge to fight. Bard stood before them with his arms crossed and his eyes glaring fiercely.

"Ah" Bard said, "someone get my captain coat from that closet. Max is in there too." A pirate retrieved his coat and drug the chair holding the sleeping monster back out into the light. He mumbled, snorted and then went on snoring, prompting that pirate to gently push him back in and make sure he was braced on the sides by heavy rods in case the ship met hard conditions. Zan appeared leaning over the helm railing with a cigarette, dry, in his mouth.

"Mind if I sit this out so we stay on course, captain?" Zan asked. "With my abilities, it might not be too fair...."

"Nonsense!" Bard shouted. "Your abilities are good to practice against, aren't they? What if we encounter someone with a power like that on an island? How will we know our ability to adapt to uncertain and unusual battle conditions if we don't fight someone with the obvious advantage of a devil fruit beforehand?" Zan shrugged and jumped down beside Bard.

"Why don't you go first, then?" Zan asked. "See if you can demonstrate that ability of adaptation to everyone else?"

"No" Rez said, stepping out from the front row. "Zan, you're a pal. That's why I'm fighting you first." Zan nodded and smoked the rest of his cigarette away, tossing the dead stub off to the side. Bard moved away and into the wall of the room under the helm. He looked to the door at the far side and was struck with the realization of who was inside and still out of the action.

"Get ready!" Bard ordered. Rez and Zan both squared their legs and spread them out. Bard opened the door and called "Set!" Zan slid his left leg back and held his left hand in his pants pocket. His right hand moved back to his waist-level to palm the grip of one of his blades. He smirked. Rez stayed in the same position but brought his hands up near his gunblades and wrung each finger one at a time. Gretta came skipping out of the room and gathered with the pirates in her long, frilly shirt over-fitting her to watch the fight while Bard carried Araly in her hammock sling held in his hands over his head. He took his position and the pirate crowd spread out far and thin to watch, forming no single boundary, all ready to move if the fight came their way.

"**FIGHT!**" Araly called.

* * *

And so the battle carried. Rez drew his pistols and made a hurried shot for Zan's feet, snapping the blades hidden within his soft leather boots before he got the chance to plan with them. Zan smirked and backed away. The pirates dispersed as a fog of spectators to avoid any inevitable shots Rez would fire. Rez ran after Zan, who approached the edge of the ship, and aimed with incredible accuracy to fire a bullet that skipped and sparked with a bounce off of Zan's eyebrow piercing.

"Can't phase through that attack, can you?" Rez exclaimed. He wielded his gunblades as swords and made a leap in. Zan recovered with his hand blades both armed and deflected Rez's attack straight to the floor. Rez rolled with his blades and avoided a metal spike to his back. He recovered to Zan's attacks. Zan punched with his bladed fists and Rez blocked with steady wrists and firm fists clenching hilts.

"The trouble with fighting me" Zan said "is that my ability treats nearly everything against it as a Logia user would treat physical objects. The difference is that I can extend that effect to how I treat solid objects. I can treat floors like water, walls like pudding, and walk through bullets like they weren't even there. You have to fight beyond the physical to harm me."

"Alright" Rez said. He broke the blade-drawn and stomped forward. "How bout a **mental blow!?**" Rez gave Zan a hard head-butt. Zan was unable to avoid or phase through it and took it full to the nose. He stumbled back and held his face while Rez rushed back in with a growl. He swung and slashed a cut in Zan's side. Zan activated his ability and let the sword swing through his body, leaving only a skin-deep cut to bleed at his side.

"Why no armor?" Rez asked. He wound his arm back and swung down hard, right onto Zan's block.

"Gets in the way of my ability" Zan said. "Ideally I should be naked."

"Please no" Rez said. "You're creepy enough as it is!" Rez kicked Zan away and got his boot half-way stuck in Zan's gut. Rez pulled his foot from his boot and swung as his foot fell back to the deck. Zan flipped back and rushed promptly back in with his blades swinging and stabbing. Rez blocked and backed away. They fought up the steps to the helm where Bard followed with a jump to the rear railing. He held Araly over his head, slung in her hammock, and they watched the standoff between blades continue before the rest of the crew managed to reach the upper deck.

"Why doesn't he just escape?" Araly asked. Bard laughed.

"Zan wants to get stronger, of course!" Bard said. "That's what this ship is for! It's an incubator for great power! Everyone will get stronger! It just takes time!" Araly looked down at him when he said that. She looked up at the fighting, at the distant rolling clouds and the purple sky, at herself, down her slender arm and to her hand, stretched out fingers and flat palm. She gripped her fist and brought it up to her eyes, beaming a smile at it, a smile for her future.

_Then I'll get stronger too_ she decided. _No matter what, I'll become strong along with everyone else._ Rez and Zan fought for a length of time and never let up. The rivalry rich in Rez's eyes was reflected back by the raw force and skillful power of Zan in his steel-strong eyes. They were the only ones that fought that day and managed to fight to a draw, ending when the sun had set and darkness filled the sky, and they shared cigarettes while sitting off the bow of the boat.

"So what's your dream?" Zan asked. Rez stared hard out to the sea and took a drag from his stick, blowing smoke out of his nose.

"There's a man on this ocean" Rez admitted "that I have to defeat if I'm ever to have any solace in my life...."

"Ah" Zan said. "One of those cases, eh?"

"It's not vengeance or anything" Rez said, stirring Zan's interest again. Rez stared ahead with a fire-hot intensity to the rising moon on the horizon. "It's something that has to be done."

"Gotcha" Zan said. "At least you're out here for a good reason. I was forced onto the sea by a man I don't understand. No mission, no target. I'm just riding the winds of fate across the sea and seeing where I get to go."

"Lucky" Rez said. "I wish I was a free man like that."

"It ain't half bad" Zan said with a chuckle. He sparked some humor up in Rez, got a single huff of a laugh out of him, and watched him toss a spinning band of smoke over the side of the ship. He stood up and offered Zan a hand up as well.

"It's a big world, you know" Zan said. "You think you'll find it?"

"What?" Rez asked.

"Your treasure" Zan said. "The thing you're searching for. 'That man', or whatever. I envy guys who have something to find. All I do is travel to end men who search for things with all their life as a resource to end their journey. As long as I exist I'll kill men. There's few ways around that. For a guy like you, who chases after his dreams, regardless what they are, I'm happy to tag along."

"You're not following me, you know" Rez said. "We're both following the same man, all the way to the end of the world, if possible." Rez walked back to the helm, checked his course, and grabbed the wheel to correct the slight in his calculations. Zan walked across the upper deck and sank down into it as he walked, bidding a farewell wave to Rez as he left. Zan left Rez with a disgusted and frightened look on his face.

_That's still creepy as hell..._ Rez thought...


	101. The Might of Captain Mars

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The crew of the mighty Imperial Dragon continued on their adventure across the Grand Line, guided by the pose gifted to them by the reformed Ghost Killer Pirates who they left behind as lethal rivals. Bard stood at the bowsprit of his mighty ship, his coat billowing as the wind swept past him. Behind him, at the helm of the ship steering it by its finely crafted wheel, was Rezland 'The Duelist', the second in command with a smug grin on his face. He let the hair blow through his short black hair and roll past his built, well defined frame. Behind him was the Main Deck where most of the crew moved about, checking ropes and having closed sparring matches in the shining Grand Line sun to keep their fighting sharp.

Down below that deck, immediately on the lower level, was the Under Deck, which had all the same functions of the Main Deck conveniently hidden from view. Sails could be raised or lowered and the ship could be steered as well, the perfect set up for a crew to sail on stealthily, as if their ship had been abandoned, by guiding it on from below. Under that deck was a buffer of thick wood paneling which insulated the barracks-like sleeping quarters from the noise of the Under Deck. On that same floor was the dry storage for all non-food items. Things found in travels like cloth or maps or any important treasure was stored in here, a sort of bank which only the captain and his immediate upper crewmen. Also on the deck, occupying the barracks when the crew was awake and sleeping in specially prepared, separate chambers when it was time for them to sleep, were Kurateka's specially trained nurses who kept the sleeping quarters as an infirmary at all times. They cured anything from food poisoning to a headache and were equipped to perform even the most necessary surgery.

Below that was another buffer, and then the Dining Deck. The Mess Hall, as the pirates appropriately called it and rewrote over the head of the doorway that led to it. The dining hall had since lost its regal charm and all the monetary ornaments and expensive decorations were taken down and stored in the Dry Storage for the next time the crew would have access to a civilization capable of trading their expensive items for pure, liquidated Beri. On the same floor was the kitchen, its appliances powered either by pure fire or, if the ship was moving, an intricate and complicated mess of machinery that took the churning of water from outside and converted it into power that stoked burners and boilers located just under the deck near the bilge. They were called 'Steam turbines' and the explanation of their functioning bored Bard straight to sleep.

All these decks were surrounded by a protective buffer of even more armor, most of it a light metallic compound capable of taking direct cannon fire without directly giving way. On the other sides of that protective buffer were the Ramparts. Each deck, including the soundproof buffers, was layered with a floor that held the cannons and port holes where the crew could attack from. Such a super-galleon as this would only do proper battle against a Marine battleship in pure nautical combat, but its enormous size and incredible thickness on all sides is what gave it such an immense advantage against the sea itself. Even if the tides churned enough to move a battleship off its course, this behemoth of a ship would require nothing short of a hole opening in the ocean beside it to move it completely off its destined path.

This was the ship that Bard captained, leading the crew and even its comatose former captain, and it sailed for parts unknown to even the most wizened traveler on the ship who made his way up to the helm through the wood like a phantom passing through solid matter. Rez cringed every time it happened. This man is Zan Edwards, Revolutionary Assassin turned pirate for Bard's crew. He held under his naked arm a rolled parchment and unrolled it as he walked forward.

"Bard" Zan called. Bard turned on his heel, his golden head of hair ruffling itself like a grain-field afire. His face was painted with a gleaming smile and an overall confident, almost obnoxiously so, look. He even held his fists against his hips as he walked and flexed his muscles exposed from the opening in his sleeveless, black coat. "Take a look at this with me" Zan said.

"Ah, sure" Bard said. He moved around and intently watched Zan unfold the parchment before both of them. It was a map, cryptically marked with nameless islands and a path from a familiar opening that started with a mountain. "It's a map! There's Reverse Mountain!" Bard exclaimed, pointing to the beginning of the map.

"Indeed" Zan said. "It seems to be a map of what the crew before us managed to catalog. They must have left it with this ship."

"And we're just finding it now!?" Rez shouted. "Did we never take an inventory of what we had!?"

"There's Paradiso Isola" Zan said, pointing to the first island in the row. "We were there when we got this ship, so it makes sense that their journey seems to start from here. Then they traveled to four other islands before reaching the apparent halfway mark of the Grand Line, turned around....somehow, went through two more islands and finally settled back in Paradiso Isola where we got the ship."

"Quit it with the 'we', punk" Rez called, keeping his tone away from any real hate. "You stowed away on this ship, right?"

"Well" Zan said, turning to Rez, "I was on it when it set out. Technically, that means I was a part of the 'we', right captain?"

"I dunno" Bard said with a rub of his neck. "I'm tempted to go with Rez on this one. You weren't really part of the crew until I offered you to join it, so I guess it was 'us' and 'you' just happened to be along with us in our first setting out."

"Fair's fair" Zan said with a shrug. "From the outline provided by Araly in her free time, I don't seem to see Ookumaiwa on here at all. They must not have sailed there after all."

"How?" Rez asked. "All paths on the Grand Line are set in...stone, technically. Actually in the magnetic minerals on each island. Most of the time a path one crew takes will be in the direct footsteps of a crew before them, and regardless each island has been visited at least once on the Grand Line. There aren't any islands that haven't been discovered or regularly visited over the years by pirates, not in this age."

"All paths eventually converge" Zan said "but it's hard to find two of the same between the successful crews in the New World. No one even knows the exact path that the former Pirate King took when he conquered the ocean, though most people can roughly speculate based on where he was and when. Then, of course, there are islands with no magnetic frequency which are still visited despite being on no log pose."

"Ah, yeah" Rez said. He sighed and gave up the fight. "So, despite us starting in the same place, roughly, you're saying we don't know where we're going."

"Precisely" Zan said.

"Whoo!" Bard whooped. He threw his thick, manly arms up in rejoice at the unknown destination of his ship. "What a mystery! Sailing out onto the open seas, with no way of knowing where we'll end up! Maybe some monsters will jump from under the currents of water, maybe an island will materialize out of the thin air! Who knows!" Bard stomped his foot onto the step of the bowsprit and pointed his finger forward. "Forward! Faster! I command it!!!"

"Whatever" Rez lowed. "We're going as fast as we can." Zan rolled up the parchment and began phasing into the wood. "Can't you walk normally!?" Rez shouted, saving himself from further witness to Zan's disturbing powers. Zan shrugged and walked normally across the deck and down to the Main Deck quarters at the fore of the ship where Araly stayed.

* * *

"Got a job for you" Zan said as he walked into the room. He saw Araly hanging in her hammock on her side, sleeping peacefully with a blanket over her body. Zan grinned and set the map on the bed, then phased down through the floor to the Under Deck. When he landed he glanced to the side and saw Gretta staring him down. The white-haired, white-skinned, red-eyed maiden from the island they just left, a princess to top it off, had an inexplicable attraction to the inhuman feats of Zan and awed after him whenever the chance arose. She was the only one capable of surprising the ever-vigilant assassin because, despite her appearance, she was difficult to keep track of even for sharp-eyed Edwards.

"......cigarette?" Zan asked, holding out his pack as an offer. Gretta looked at the box of flimsy sticks for a moment before Zan took one in his mouth and retrieved a lighter from his pocket. He struck a flame, lit the cigarette and took in a deep drag of smoke which he breathed out with a grin through his nostrils.

"....I think not" Gretta said, drawing her hand away. "I'm not yet at a strength where I could control such a fearsome power...."

"It's not magic, girl" Zan said. "If you don't want one, that's fine too. They're probably bad for you, so I'd suggest against using them at all."

"Then why do you?" Gretta asked. Zan took his cigarette from his mouth with careful fingers and blew out a puff of smoke.

"It calms me down" Zan said. "When you've lived a life like mine for long enough, any calming method will work to satisfy you. Hope that you never have to live that kind of life, alright?" Zan left her standing in the darkened hallway as he made his usual patrols around the ship, checking it for worthwhile items not yet scanned over or hidden rooms left unexplored for too long. Gretta sighed and leaned her body lazily into the wall.

_That man_ she thought, _that demon. He is so elegant. He is so charming and powerful. He is so gallant and amazing. His power is so unearthly, so above anything I have ever seen and so whimsical in its very nature. Never, never at all, not even in my most fantastic dreams have I ever imagined a man like him with his powers to exist in this world or to be so close to me...._ Her feminine drive started to control her movements and she became lost in her thoughts as she walked in a half-stepping dance through the halls of the Under Deck, dodging the pirates who moved past her with arms full of work and things that needed to be carried. They ignored her, already used to her swooning ways and dreamy flights, and kept out of her way to keep her glare sedated by her pleasant, happy charm. She continued to dance her way all the way to the Main Deck and then up the stairway to the aft of the deck which was elevated over the Main Deck and held its own battle station in case of an emergency chase.

This is where, for the first time she could recall, Gretta saw someone sleeping on the job in the middle of the day. She was stirred out of her poetic flight and looked at this man with her stoic, apathetic, glowing stare as he snored in his chair leaned back on its hind legs with his feet on the railing. The wind failed to pick up his greasy, dirt-splotched dark hair as it billowed hers like a delicate cloud. She brushed her hair back with her fingers and let it blow behind her as a white, flowery mass. Then she approached the man and kicked his chair to try and jar him awake.

"Lazy fool" she said. "Wake up and do something productive. Write a book!" Gretta kicked again and the chair toppled. The shovel held in the man's sleeping hand was knocked loose and clattered onto the deck floor. Gretta looked at it and listened to the man's snores increase in volume. She instantly became frustrated and kicked the man's side lightly. "Wake up, I said! On whose authority can you just sleep all day?" The man didn't answer or stir in the slightest. Gretta was tempted to continue kicking him, but the futility of her actions was becoming apparent and she moved to set him back up. Instead of giving him his shovel back in his lap or in his hand, she balanced it on his nose as his head was hung over the back of his chair. Gretta stared at her work and the perfect balance it brought and was inspired to continue, so she went off to gather more things to put on the man's face.

That man was known as 'Graveshift' Maxwell to the crew, their former captain. He rested eternally in a coma that kept him on the border between life and death at the hands of a toxic venom still coursing in his veins from some unfortunate day a long time ago. Only briefly after so much rest could he ever wake and move freely, then back to sleep he would go. He was known to some, to a select and strong few, as 'The Chromatic' Maxwell from his days as the former one of the Yonkou, the strongest of the New World's Pirates! No one in the crew is clear as to who exactly that 'Chromatic' was, but the fear and respect the name all the same.

When Gretta returned she had some swords, a length of rope and a bucked, and she was determined to get it all balanced on Maxwell's unconscious face. No one bothered to check on either of them for a time, either, leaving her to perfect the art of balancing stuff on sleeping people's faces....

Meanwhile, Araly finally woke up and saw the parchment on the bed, rolling itself to a slight unfold as it rolled around. She was stretching out desperately to grab hold of it, still bound to her hammock bed due to her chronic sea sickness, but refused to give up. She reached for a length of cloth and tried to harness her skills with it lying down. She tried to use it to whip and latch onto the rolls that held the parchment together but only managed to hit the parchment together and further away.

"**DAMN IT ALL!!!"** she roared, tossing the scarf away ineffectually. It fluttered over the bed and fell too far away for her to even try to grab at. She sighed and slouched over the edge of her bed with defeat in her heart and hair cascading over her face. Her long, curly blue locks wouldn't leave her alone until she shook her head and curled them up into a puffy afro. "Nothing works right anymore" she said as she took tight finger presses of her hair at a time and straightened them out. "My hair's all greasy and feels salty and grimy.....I want a bath. I want a shower. Anything at all, I'll take it at once. I just wish I could walk on a boat like a normal person! I'm a pirate, aren't I? What kind of pirate has sea sickness!?"

Araly continued to complain to herself while the ship barreled ever onward to its destination, guided by the unseen hands of fate....

* * *

As the Buster Pirates sailed across the waving waters of the mighty Grand Line, an official man made his course to his own plotted destiny. Captain Mars, a man of great might and stature, standing tall and taking up more space with his arms than with his status, led his crew back to Headquarters on official business which he neglected to review entirely. All he knew was there was a mountain's worth of paperwork summoning him to the sacred Marine ground and he could do nothing to escape the call...

_I doubt I'm getting a promotion_ Mars thought. _They'd never put my name on a ballot for a higher office, those bastards. I'm most likely gonna get chewed out or barked at by one of the Vice-Admirals or a government dog of an official. All over one kid. What can I do about it? Bard's vanished from the radar and we have no idea where he's headed next..._

"Captain Mars!" a Marine crewmen shouted as he ran up to the helm. Mars turned around and met the young Marine in mid-salute. "We just got a communication from HQ, sir. They want us to reroute our course!"

"Those ass-hats!" Mars bellowed. "I'm already en route to the base and they want me to diverge!? Did they say how? We've only got the one, damn pose!"

"They given us coordinates, sir" the Marine said. "We should be able to reach the port within two days if we turn around now."

"Where are they sending us?" Mars asked.

"It's a previously unknown island" the Marine said. "They're keeping most of the details under heavy confidentiality. HQ claims to have picked up a weakened signal from an island on the Grand Line and they want us to inspect it. It sounded like a call for help."

"Aren't we busy already?" Mars asked. "What about Bard? It's my responsibility to catch the kid and take him in."

"They've also said" the Marine continued "that the responsibility for Bard D. Samekawa is falling into the hands of a different captain and fleet."

"**WHAT!?**" Mars roared with his eyes whited out in rage. "Since when did they get the power to remove **responsibility off a man's waiting shoulders!?**"

"Uh....since always?" the Marine nervously said.

"Who's responsible for it now!?" Mars demanded.

"Confidential information, sir" the Marine said. "We're only on instruction to turn around and head to the island using the Den Den Mushi as a tracker....that's all I can say." Mars growled and turned around, stomping his foot onto the railing which buckled under his great force and nearly split apart.

"Fine" Mars said. "Change course immediately. The more time we waste the more words they'll be saving up to belch at us when we finally do our job right." The Marine saluted and ran off.

"Change course!" the Marine ordered. "Follow the Den Den Mushi signal!" Mars groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose under the pressure of his oppression.

_Nothing seems to be going right anymore_ Mars thought. _It's all been a downward spiral since Bard and his girlfriend Araly left....but I'm sure they're going through their own trials and hardships. I'd be crazy not to want to see them again, if not just to see that they're on the right path anymore. Bard's a tough kid, but dim. That Araly's a bright girl, very astute, but she's unsure of herself. I trust them both, especially Bard, to make the decisions that are right for themselves from here on out. Still, I wish I could be there helping them. Those kids are still too young to be on this dangerous sea..._

"Captain Mars!" a Marine called. Mars turned with his teeth visibly grit and his eyes half-drawn under their lids.

"Huuuuuuh!?" Mars groaned.

"A Pirate ship has been spotted!" the Marine declared. "It's closing on us from the port side, four knots, with the sails down!" Mars jumped around and pounded his fists together.

"That's what I like to hear!" he shouted. "Change course! We're taking them down!"

"Yes sir!" the Marine said. He rushed back to the deck and gave the orders. The ship was promptly turned in its straight course to meet the incoming pirate ship. Through the crow's nest lookout the ship was easily spotted and visibly populated by pirates who ran around in a rush to load cannons and prepare for battle. Mars stole his lookout's telescope and saw the frantic rush the pirates were in.

"Ah, this'll be easy!" Mars shook off his coat and ran along the edge of the sail mast and jumped from the ship with his huge, barreled chest aimed toward the water. He dove into the sea with a tremendous splash and swam under the waves straight for the pirate ship. The pirates who prepared themselves for a battle watched the Marines from a distance just as they were being watched and the lookout at the helm of the deck saw Mars diving and rushed back to his captain to warn him.

"Captain Stalt!" the called. "Captain Stalt! One of the Marine dogs just dove off his ship and into the water! What should we do?"

"It's obvious, ain't it?" the battle-clad, black-garbed aged captain said. "We need to attack him from a distance before he attacks us from below! Find him in the water and shoot him out of it like a fish!"

"Aye!" the pirate called. "Helm cannons, aim at the swimmer and fire on sight!" The men arming the cannons at the helm of the ship turned their sights around and scanned the waves between them and the Marine ship that turned toward them. The waves were moving as usual in the Grand Line and beneath them swam the shadows of many fish that breached the surface just long enough to be seen, but out of all the sights the men couldn't see a trace of what a man would look like swimming through the waves. The ship shook at odd intervals and dull thuds echoed up from under the water.

"What was that?" a pirate wondered.

"It's obvious, ain't it?" Stalt called to his men, keeping his cheeks wrinkled with an arrogant smile. "We're just hitting a bunch of rocks right now. Forget that Marine, fire at the ship!"

"Aye!" the pirates called. They aimed high and fired, but their shots all sank unexpectedly low and splashed into the water. The Marines fought back and fired the cannons from their deck, landing explosions on the surface of the pirate's sizable ship.

"What the hell!?" the cannoniers shouted. "Why couldn't we hit them!?"

"It's obvious, ain't it?" Stalt called as he turned around with the whipping billow of his long coat following him. "Magic."

"You're obviously _**wrong!**_" his crew shouted. Then, through the smoke of one of the blasts, a stomping of feet was heard and a body appeared, twice as strong looking as any man the pirates had ever seen. With a single swing of his arm he smashed the breath from a man's chest and sent that man darting across the deck, carrying two others with him as he flew off the side of the deck. Mars paced his way up to the helm when he was suddenly surrounded by armed pirates.

"You dog!" a pirate shouted. "We'll kill you, Marine!" Mars let them attack. They all leaped at him with their swords held high and their axes swung back, and Mars let them. He simply ducked down and slid his feet. Then, with a grunting growl, he rocketed back up following his fist and the pirates around him were thrown away and off the ship by his explosive force.

"**MARS ROCKET!!!"** His uppercut finished and he landed, swinging his fist to the side like a saber and shook off the sweat. He paced up to the upper deck and stood facing the helm and all the worried pirates that were on it. "Which one of you is the damn captain!?" he demanded. Stalt laughed confidently and walked forward with his hands in his pockets.

"It's obvious, ain't it?" he said. "It's me you want, Captain Stalt of the Stalt Pirates!" He hadn't calculated Mars' wrath into his introduction and was punched so hard in the face that all his wrinkles converged into the fisted crater and his skin became inexplicably taught around his ears and the sides of his face. When the fist left his skin rippled back out and he was thrown with force clear off the ship. Mars had barely moved to execute the tremendous punch and when he heard the splash and settling of water from the pirate landing he brought his fist to his grinning mouth and blew on it.

"You bastard!" a pirate shouted. A stocky but strong man, the pirate picked the cannon he armed up and held it over his shoulder. The fuse was already lit. "I'll show you that we're not to be messed with!" The cannon fired and a thick trail of smoke followed up to Mars' body. The pirate dropped the cannon and then dropped to his knees. No smoke came forth from a blast because there was none. **Mars caught the cannon ball and stopped it dead in the air. **He let it drop down and hit the floor with a heavy smash of wood, then he walked to the cowering pirates and crossed his heavy, muscular arms in a chiding down-cast gaze.

"You picked the wrong ocean to sail" he said. The pirates prostrated themselves and begged forgiveness, but got no mercy from fight-starved Mars. When his ship was in range he punted each pirate onto its deck from their ship as the entire pirate vessel sunk from the holes he'd punched into its underside. Mars then jumped from ship to ship as his ship's course was already corrected to sail to the island they had been ordered to find.

"Take these men into custody" Mars commanded "but don't be too rough on them. If they want, they can join us later."

"Yes sir" the Marines said.

"Do your worst, damn you!" the stout and defiant pirate growled. He stood up tall and refused to budge his arms, even to the force of two men trying to bind each one. "I'll never become a dog like you."

"Hmph" Mars huffed. "You're a bit off, kid. I'm no dog. **I'm a damn war-hound!**"

* * *

Elsewhere on the churning waves of the mighty ocean, a Marine ship sat in the port of a gallant and bustling island city of perpetual spring. The crew of that ship took up quarter in the city's hotel under a military decree and held their own with free food and dining and total tenure of action. The grateful town mayor had given the crew a semi-hero status for what they aimed to do when the time was right: to capture a devious and dangerous traitor to the Marines and to the World Government.

The captain of this crew regularly called upon some kind of personal service from the staff of the hotel where he stayed, whether it be for some unnecessary food or miscellaneous luxury that required a bit of shamelessness on the part of the maids and cooks that met his requests. One such maid hurried up to his room with a change of clothes over her shoulder and a covered dish in her hands. She balanced the plate carefully on her fingertips and knocked at the door. It was opened by another maid from within dressed in a bunny-girl outfit.

"Please change in the bathroom" the girl said as she took the plate "and go to the master bedroom. He's waiting in there for you...."

"Must I?" the girl asked. The bunny-girl stared at her with a vacant, deathly expression that hurried her along further. When the maid got out her change of clothes and sized them up against her body, she found something markedly odd about the apparel, namely in that it had no back and was essentially a short-cut maid's outfit that was totally open in the back. Coupled with the embarrassing suit was a lacy style of lingerie underwear and stockings and a garter belt. She gulped loudly and changed.

When she appeared another girl wearing an outfit similar to hers sighed and sped off in dismissal.

"Good luck" the retreating girl said. The girl who replaced her was worried for a moment and opened the bedroom door to peek inside. The wall was lined up with girls in sexy uniforms and suits, all there to cater to whatever fancifully twisted whims this Marine captain would call upon them.

"A new girl, eh?" the captains said. He sat in the shadows of the canopy over his bed with a glass of wine lightly swilling in his hand. He took a sip from it and spun it with gentle movements of his wrist. She could see his mouth through the shade and what seemed to be **the body of a child** speaking to her. "I have just the place for you, my dear" he said, his voice that of a boy.

This is the captain assigned to finding and capturing Bard, moved ahead of the young pirate boy by some unknown steps to impede his passage past the point he chose to guard. This was a marvelous Marine captain whose high standards for good taste always seemed to take precedence over his job to dispense justice. This captain was **Ponce 'Boyish' Charm**, Captain of the Marines....


	102. Aleister Altair, the Top Hat Pirate

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The Buster Pirates sailed the open waters of the Grand Line for a time and, predictably, suffered from boredom. Gretta seemed to be the only member of the crew still entertained. She sat on the aft of the deck, her delicate skin wrapped in a long cloak and hood, in a cushioned chair taken from the dining hall and read books from Araly's room while balancing odd objects on Maxwell's face. So far, balancing on his own shovel which teetered on the bridge of his nose, she had added a jar of sea water, seven clean-picked fish skeletons, complete with heads, and a cord of rope coiled unevenly near the middle. She just read and, when the ship seemed to move, placed a hand on her work to steady it.

The rest of the crew lacked her complacent dignity. She had long been in the practice of making a lot out of a little, even though as a princess she had nearly everything. She was used to sitting in the quiet and reading, though without the sun as much, for sometimes days on end. The stir-crazy crew held regular spars on the Main Deck which always ended the moment tempers began to flare between fighters.

"You ass of a man!" one pirate, a reformed Paladin, shouted. He smashed his head onto the forehead of his current opponent and they growled each other down hotly. "What lacking rules are in place that allow you to stomp on my damned foot!?" Their vocabulary was dulling the more they interacted with their fellow crewmen, but it was still more dignified in general.

"You got a problem with how I fight!?" the burly man said with a loud scoff. "**PFAH!** I'll take you down with my hand shoved down my throat!" The Paladin grabbed his arm therefore and started trying to thrust it into his own face.

"That I'd enjoy seeing!" the Paladin growled. The move lacked humor despite the obvious humor in it and was quickly broken up. The men were pulled apart and sparring was called off for the rest of the day as a result to punish the fight-crazed pirates. Rez observed them from the Upper Deck, a place that had become a sacred sort of area on the ship for the main crew, and took a slow drag from his cigarette. Zan was behind him, steering the boat, while Bard had his arms and legs dangling off the bowsprit as he slept out of pure boredom in the ocean breeze.

"It's a slow time, isn't it?" Rez said, calling to Zan. Zan didn't have a reply so Rez continued without him. "It's times like this I wish this ocean was smaller, you know? That way it'd be easier to meet more people as we travel to train off of."

"A fighter's ideal, eh?" Zan said. "I agree, though. It's hard to train for a serious fight without getting serious. I guess that's what you really mean, huh?"

"Right" Rez said. His cigarette burned itself down to a stub and he pitched it away. It burned out in the airy breeze and blew itself across the deck, catching onto the railing with the rest of the pitched cigarette butts he and Zan, mostly Zan, smoked on their job. Rez pulled up a chair and sat down next to Zan with a tired sigh.

"Don't want to step in?" Zan asked.

"You've got it under control" Rez said. He grinned and equipped his bandanna, casting a thin shadow over his eyes. "Wake me up when something fantastic starts to happen."

"Fair enough" Zan said. "The second we start sailing up a rainbow bridge to Heaven, you'll be the first person I tell."

"Hey, hey" Rez grunted, "don't joke about going to Heaven on the Grand Line. It's bad luck." Zan chuckled at Rez's superstitious caution and went on steering. After seeing the same sky stretch on for so long even the well-battled assassin became bored.

_Well this was unexpected_ Zan thought. _Being on a ship with enough testosterone to sink it, one would think more entertaining matters would arise to prevent this kind of boredom. Instead, even I'm getting heavy eyelids. I'm barely alert enough to keep the ship on course..._ The winds of the calm day stopped all at once. Zan looked back as he noticed the ship slowing itself to a halt and saw the Grand Sail being risen by the gears in the Under Deck. It seemed fruitless to try and argue against the current conditions, so Zan locked the wheel with the push of a locking bar through the center of the pivot and descended down through the deck, passing past sleeping Araly's chambers and into the Under Deck.

"Hey" Zan called. "Let's lower anchor. We aren't going anywhere productive like this for a bit."

"Aye aye" a pirate agreed. He moved through the halls bordered by gears and panel-hidden ropes to a wider array of heavy-weighted controls. One was a simple lever that took a moment of stretching and preparation before one could successfully move it. Zan phased his way into the side of the boat's hull and slid his way through the ankle-deep wood around to the aft end of the ship. Two anchors were dropped down and the ship sunk down after them. Then, from the bow, another anchor lowered and balanced the ship out. The Imperial Dragon was roosting now and moved none, even against the waves that splashed so calmly against it.

"I bet Bard would get a kick out of maintaining the ship's keel right now" Zan realized. He walked up the side of the ship for the Main Deck with a slow and even pace. "That man will smile at just about anything, I bet." Zan's body whipped up and his vision blurred from his own speed as he went from horizontal standing to vertical in a single step. Waiting for him was Gretta, whose sudden presence startled him into stepping back with his foot kicking in the air. "Geez" he said, calming himself steadily. "Announce yourself a little better. You're a princess, right? We need to get you some trumpets."

"All joking aside, Sir Demon" Gretta began in an earnest and respectful voice, "there's something you should see, back there." She pointed to where she had stationed herself at the aft of the ship on its rear upper deck. Zan followed her up the stairs and spotted Maxwell. He was apathetic at first but then he saw the potted plant balanced perfectly on his forehead, along with all the other miscellaneous items she had somehow gathered.

_Where and when did we get that flower?_ Zan wondered.

"What do you make of it?" Gretta asked. Zan faced Maxwell and sighed.

"Boredom does strange things to us, Gretta" Zan said. "Honestly, though, it's impressive."

"_That_, Sir Demon" she said, emphasizing him to follow her finger. She pointed out to the horizon where, though very distant, the image of a ship appeared. Zan squinted his eyes and leaned over the railing to try and see better but abandoned his human attempts for something more suiting his style. He reached into his chest and pulled out a telescope while Gretta awed at him with pursed lips of excitement. "....may I.....try as well?"

"Later" Zan said as he spied through his glass. It was indeed a ship, and one that flew rogue pirate colors. A skull across the mast wearing a top hat with a white-ended wand in its mouth backed by a wide, round rose of red. He shortened the telescope again and shoved it back into his body. "I need to wake the captain. Start ringing bells. Yell out 'All hands to the Main Deck' a lot if you can."

"Understood" Gretta said with a nod. She and Zan both ran out onto the Main Deck. Gretta diverged and ran for the Under Deck where she flipped a switch that triggered every room in the ship to sound a loud, ringing alarm. The nurses in the sick bay were stunned in alert and the men whose minor wounds they treated shot up from their beds in alert. Gretta took hold of a Den Den Mushi transmitter and spoke into it. "_State of Alert has been announced. All hands report to the Main Deck. Repeat, a state of Alert has been announced by Sir Zan Edwards, third-in-rank of the crew, and all hands are to report to the deck."_ Gretta's call went out to the entire ship, and in no time the quiet boredom was broken. Now a sized battalion of pirates, all armed with sabers and guns and raw muscle power, gathered on the deck with a combined flame of rage. Gretta moved through them effortlessly and went up onto the Upper Deck where Rez was duteously steering and Zan was poking Bard with his pointed leather shoe.

"Come on captain" Zan said in a passive, apathetic voice. "We're under attack. Time to get up and lead us..." Bard slept heavily, snoring loudly like a signaling foghorn at the bow of his own boat.....

* * *

Bard approached the railing of the helm that overlooked the Main Deck rubbing sleep from his eyes. Zan had explained the situation, though the excitement failed to immediately wake Bard up, and gave him his personal telescope to see the ship with.

"It'd be better" Zan said "if you went to the aft of the ship to see."

"Right" Bard agreed. He stepped up onto the railing and jumped over his crew, jumping several more times through the air with puffs of smoke coming from his feet.

_Insane_ Zan thought. _He's already solidly learned how to use Geppou!_ His own excitement started to show through in a dark grin. Gretta stood close by, veiling her emotion by wrapping her face with the excess cloth of her cloak to keep her delicate skin from the sun.

"Are we certain he is no demon, Sir Zan?" Gretta asked.

"He has the strength to challenge one" Zan said "but he's no demon. If anything, he's a kid." Bard landed at the aft of the deck with Maxwell still sleeping as a human balance act near him. Bard looked through the telescope and saw onto the deck of the ship. It was a big ship, though not comparatively, but it was still a shy away from any Marine battleship Bard knew to exist. It was only smaller by, in his terms of measurement, some three or four meters, being measured from the lowest part of the ship's main deck where the mast met. Other than that the build of the ship seemed regular. The only thing markedly different was what was on the ship's deck.

"Looks like some kind of stage" Bard noted. "There's a few guys running around in really bright colors and masks....some kind of weird gang." Bard collapsed the telescope and started a run back across the deck. Now that he was awake he didn't want to lazily go straight to the deck. He would run, as he does when his heart begins racing.

"Word, Captain Bard?" a pirate called to him.

"Don't know" Bard said. "Maybe enemies, but maybe not. Stand by for that."

"Orders, Captain!?" an enthusiastic and well-armed pirate called.

"Stay sharp" Bard said "and await further." The pirate nodded with a growl and loaded his bazooka fiercely. Bard returned to the Upper Deck in Zan's absence. "Where'd he go?" Bard asked to Gretta.

"To get Araly" she replied. "She is the only member not yet accounted for." Zan ran up the opposite stairway holding Araly over his shoulder with a long hammock blanket slung under her. He handed her off to Bard who took her and her blanket up in his arm. She was wide awake and worried.

"What's going on?" she asked immediately.

"Not sure" Bard said. His demeanor instantly changed from a concerned and cautious captain to the fight-crazy, excited, never-ending-rush of a boy that Araly feared to admit knowing. "Whatever it is, I hope it's awesome!!!" he lowed. Araly groaned and hung her head.

"I don't" she said.

"We should assess the situation fully" Zan said "before we decide whether to attack or not. After all, these pirates may not be the warring kind." Bard kept his face set on an adventurous and fierce expression to the sea. His mind didn't catch what Zan offered to him as well-thought advice. Araly turned in her sling with a depressed look on her face as she shouldered the burden of translating Bard's hidden thoughts.

"He doesn't want to consider any option" Araly droned "that won't end in something fun for him, so don't try."

"I see" Zan said. "In that case, we should send them a message before we decide to attack them. It's dishonorable to just swoop in with guns blazing without so much as a proper challenge request, right captain?"

"Indeed!" Bard agreed. He passed Araly off to Zan and made a run for the railing of the Main Deck. The ship was still some distance away and sailing slowly towards the Imperial Dragon in the low winds, but Bard had the energy to not only clear the distance but fight afterward if necessary. Bard tugged at the edges of his coat and straightened it out along his chest with a wide grin.

"What's the word, Captain?" a pirate asked. Bard stood up on the railing and crossed his arms, his eyes gazing out toward the open sea. He turned to his crew, a brilliant flash of confidence in his eyes, and spoke to them.

"If I don't come back" he began "**I leave this ship, and the sea itself, to you!**" Bard crouched down and made a Soru-powered leap into the air. He pumped his legs in a running motion as he drifted over the sea, leaping with puffs of smoke from his feet with every step he took. His crew watched him go, fading and shrinking off into the distance, with tears streaking down their faces.

"Goodbye, captain!" a pirate called.

"He's more than a man" another said, "he's some kind of hero!!!"

"Strong as he is" Gretta said "he's not so foolish as to fight others alone, right?"

"Foolish as he is" Araly said "he's more likely to bring the fight all the way to us rather than keep it private. But yeah, he's pretty damn foolish."

"If only we had some auxiliury craft" Zan said "he could have taken some fellow adventurous men with him. I'm sure the crew will be more than disappointed if there's no fight to be had." Araly gave him a skeptical glance.

"What makes you so sure that they _won't_ be hostile?" Araly asked.

"I'm not sure" Zan admitted "but we can't deny that possibility. Some pirates have overlapping agendas, others are just out to win the race. However, it's common logic that if a fight can be easily avoided, it should be to save as much energy and resources as possible for a more serious matter later on."

"Fighting is serious to Bard" Araly said.

"So obviously" Rez called from the helm "we'd better start arming ourselves for an actual fight, right?" Zan lit up a cigarette in his mouth and shook the flame from the match. He exhaled a drag of smoke and ended up grinning.

"It'd be a shame to waste such a perfect day...." Zan said...

* * *

Bard emerged from the waters and onto the boat itself. He brushed the water from his hair and flapped his coat at his sides to dry it. He looked around at the ship he had landed on and took wide strides across its wooden floor. It was mostly empty. There were signs of obvious, recent movement which had been halted when the crew saw Bard coming, but the thing that captivated Bard more than anything was what rested at the rear of the ship. Just as he thought, it was a huge performance stage complete with violet curtains and bright lights hoisted up high, powered by cords running down through holes in the wood.

"Hmmm" Bard hummed. He cupped his chin as he thought hard about what to make of the curtain-drawn stage, when in an instant his brain unevenly lapsed and his thoughts trailed off into a disconnected area. "I should grow a beard" Bard said.

"Hello?" a timid man's voice said. Bard turned and saw a man, a pirate, wearing a tuxedo and a white mask with his mouth dropped and his arms held up in a nervous surrender. He also wore a top hat, not unlike that which the skull of the ship's Jolly Roger wore. "Sir? We mean no harm. We're just a troupe of entertainers traveling the Grand Line....We, we don't want to fight!" Bard stared at him. Part of him understood the man's frantic request. The rest of him, which was a majority, made his body lean in and his face smirk with intimidation.

"**I don't think that's up to you"** Bard lowed. The man shivered with fright and ducked down with a shout of terror.

"Now now, young man" a man's voice called from behind the thick curtains. "I doubt that is any proper way to behave as a guest upon someone else's ship!" The voice was jovial in its chiding, but Bard could tell that he was being lectured immediately and turned to the stage with his body straight and his legs parted.

"Who's there!?" Bard demanded.

"Such a hostile tone!" the man's voice called. "Can you not ask me in a more pleasing manner?"

"I don't trust people who hide behind curtains" Bard said outright. "Are you the captain of this ship!?" The lights of the stage turned on and glared into the curtains. The lights were moved around in circles to draw Bard's eye, even though it was a bright day and he could barely see the lights even against the dark shade of the curtains. The man near Bard ran to the right side of the stage, stage-left that is, and pulled a lever hidden behind one of the artistically oak-paneled columns holding the curtains up. The curtains were drawn, and revealed behind the deep and wide stage that was built so flawlessly into the deck of the ship. A man sat on a chair in the middle of a shaded darkness, shaded by a ceiling of thick veils hung overhead so the sun's rays wouldn't disturb the ambiance of the lighting. A fog-covered light illuminated him from behind, showing his profiled sitting silhouette holding a rose near his face.

"Indeed I am" the man said. Bard approached the stage and stood at its very edge. He tried to spy the figure of the man through the darkness but failed to see through the intentional darkness of the play of lighting. The man stood up. He was a giant of a man, easily taller than Bard and most other human's he would stand near, but with shorter legs and thicker arms than Bard's. His chest and body were huge compared to Bard, making the tenacious young fighter look slender by comparison. His hands were big and clutched the sunflower-sized rose between a thick finger and thicker thumb. He held it up to his face where Bard could easily read the outline of his broad nose and see the shadow of a thick and full beard around his lower jaw.

"Allow me to properly introduce myself" the man said as he snapped his fingers. The shadow of the rose vanished completely. The lights centered upon him. He was indeed a tremendous man. His pants were patterned with flowers and his shoes were buckled together across his instep. He wore a well-fit tuxedo of black with a dressy bow tied around his collar. On his hands were white gloves lined with black fabric in four neat lines between each finger. His beard was indeed full, thick and wavy, extending down his thick and exposed neck from off his wide and manly jaw. He had the face of a warrior and a scar running from the end of his left eyebrow down along his sideburn and ending invisibly in his thicket of facial hair. He had wide eyes and a perpetually furrowed brow but a kind and hearty smile. From under his thick, tall top hat his hair traveled down just to the collar of his shirt from behind, all of it the darkest hue of brown. "My name is **Aleister Altair**" he declared. "I am the captain of the **Top Hat Traveling Entertainment Pirate Company!** A pleasure to meet you, young sir."

"Hold on a second" Bard said, holding out his hand. Aleister cocked a brow and straightened his black suit out with a run of his thick hands. Bard held a very serious demeanor as he held the man's attention, despite the words that formed in his clutched mouth. He spoke with a flat and free expression, wanting only to speak his thoughts to his newly met associate. "You're.....**a magician???**"

"What an incredible astute nature you have" Aleister said. He tipped his hat off and bowed deep, revealing a bald dome at the very top of his head shamelessly. He twirled his hat in his fingers as he rose up and placed it back on his head with a quick swipe of his finger across the brim. "Yes indeed, I am a magician. This crew of mine is dedicated to spreading the value of true magical entertainment throughout the depressed world of the Grand Line. Those who find no jovial purpose to life shall indeed become indebted to us for bringing to them the joy of laughter and the amazing rush of excitement upon watching our magical act upon act! It is our duty to spread a goodwill to all the world, from here to its end, as we have done countless times in our home of the North Blue!" Bard stepped up onto the stage, interrupting Aleister's thoughtful speech with his own starry-eyed inquiery.

"Can this stage move?" Bard asked.

"Through the power of magic" Aleister said "yes, it can!" Bard huffed billows of steam through his nostrils and grabbed Aleister's big hand in both of his.

"**Please come to my ship"** Bard plead **"and entertain us!!! We'll pay you with really expensive furniture and books!!!"** Aleister, overcome with a thoughtful confusion to the young man's request, stood for a moment while his faithful crew kept the hot spotlight directly over him despite the hot sun...

* * *

"He's dead" Gretta said.

"He wouldn't just up and die" Araly said as she laid in her hammock tied between two straight parts of railing at the helm close enough together to keep her up. "He must've been captured."

"Then he'll die" Gretta said.

"What's with that attitude!?" Araly exclaimed as she sat up to face her. Gretta sat in her chair and read. "He's your captain, you know. You need to respect him a little more!"

"Do you respect him?" Gretta asked.

"Well, it's different for me" Araly said. "I've known him since we were children, and I always treated him the same, so it's no real problem if I'm disrespectful to him sometimes. He's more my friend than my captain."

"And more a husband than a friend, right?" Zan mentioned. Araly scoffed.

"That joke is old" she said, brushing off the insinuation without a second thought. "When I was a younger, more innocent girl, I may have thought of marrying him, but he's too much of a fool for me to seriously consider now."

"At least he's strong" Gretta said.

"Yeah...." Araly agreed with a sigh as she lay back down. There was an apprehensive silence all across the boat. The older, more experienced half of the crew were relaxed and leaning with their guns rested against their shoulder and their blades sheathed as they waited for Bard's return. One small group was even playing Rock-Paper-Scissors to pass the time. The burlier, slightly dimmer pirates stood ever ready with heavy weapons held tight in their arms, anxiously biting their lips as their eyes bulged from lack of blinking.

"Hey guys!" Marco, who sat with a group of men playing cards, called. "Why don't you just rest for a second. Bard can handle himself just fine. He was only being dramatic."

"Good luck snapping them out of this" a long-haired pirate said. He looked over his cards and drew another from the deck in the middle of the circle-sitting group. "It seems we're to remain on high-alert until he gets back, bloody or not."

"I'm betting on not" a short-haired pirate said. He even threw in coins for the bet.

"Hell, I'll go with that" Marco said. He threw coins in as well.

_Maybe he really is dead!_ A burly, lip-biting pirate thought. _Maybe he's abandoned the ship to fight forever on the churning waves of the Grand Line! When will he return? What powers will he gain in his exodus!? When will our captain be returned to us!?!?_

"GAAAHH!!!" a burly man near the railing shouted. "I see him! He's coming! He's coming right this way!!!"

"He is!?" the pirates shouted. The port side of the deck was crowded with pirates as they all tried to lean past each other and watch the seas for their black-coated, blond-haired hero. Zan overheard the clamor and hopped down onto the Main Deck to confirm what was being excitedly exclaimed all around.

"Pardon me, please" Zan said. He stepped up onto someone's back and started walking across their shoulders to get to the edge of the ship. He hopped down and kicked his foot into the wood of the hull, fusing it in mid-phasing and watched as he stood perpendicular to the ship's side. He saw the ship that he spied moving closer and closer and then saw a huge rush of waves behind it. _So that's what he's doing...._ Zan thought. Bard was powering the ship across the water and bringing it up closer to his for some reason. Zan sighed and walked back up to the Main Deck where, somehow, Gretta was standing to meet him. This time he ignored her and walked right past her as she followed.

"So he is alive, is he?" Gretta asked.

"Indeed he is" Zan said. "It seems that, from a first glance, his negotiations proved fruitful enough for him to either steal their boat whole or to make a new set of allies to add to our armada."

"Armada?" Gretta asked.

"Ship gang" Rez said. He was on the deck as well, joining in the chaos and forcing men out of the group to return to their positions. "This ship is, in itself, an armada, of course."

"It never hurts to have more than one ship in an army" Zan said.

"So now we are forming an army?" Gretta said. She stopped to imagine what kind of army would exist on the sea, based solely on what she had seen in her life representing an army. "How would we march to conquer the lands when there is so little land to march on?"

"Don't worry about it" Zan said. "You'll live longer if you stop worrying..." Gretta took his advice on the prospect of long life, taking his words to heart so quick that her normal cynical rationality failed her.

"Come on, you dogs!" Rez bellowed. "First-Mate order! Quit crowding the railing!" A blur of black shot up from under them and landed with a thud to behind them. It was Bard, soaking wet, holding his boots by their laces in his mouth and a dry violet cloth in his hands. He spat the boots to the floor, held the cloth away and shook the water from his head again.

"**CAPTAAAAAIN!!!!!"** the crew called out.

"Hi!" Bard said with a casual smile and wave.

"What's the status?" Rez asked with a hand already on his gunblade. He noticed the cloth second. "What's with that thing?" Bard chuckled and stepped back.

"Check this out!" Bard said, backing away as the group gathered tightly around him. Bard folded out the long and billowy cloth. He positioned it cautiously so that there was nothing behind it and no one at such an angle that they could see behind it either. "Buster Pirates, I, your Captain, am proud to present to you the magical entertainment troupe under the lead of Captain Aleister Altair, **the TOP HAT PIRATES!!!!**" Bard swung the cloth up to a tall and wide length, and then snapped it back down. Behind it, appearing out of nowhere and under absolutely no predictable circumstance, was Aleister with a hand up at his chest gripping at the fold of his suit modestly. He tipped his hat and gave a bow.

"It is a pleasure!" he called. The crew was stunned. Rez dropped to his knees and fell onto his head where tears began streaming down his cheeks, defying gravity in his anxiety of emotion.

_Great_ Rez thought. _He actually invited them on the ship....._


	103. Magic Show of the Top Hat Pirates

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Taking into his hand a tiny square of cloth, the magician threw his arm out and threw a seemingly endless mass of fabric which stretched across the broad stretch of the Main Deck's aft section. Then, taking the cloth in both strong hands, he pulled it away, and from behind and out of completely thin air appeared **a fully decorated and built performance stage!!!** His crew was on it as well, unjarred from whatever mystical form of travel they had just undergone. The crew stood all in a line, each hand joined to another. The men wore black tuxedos like their captain and dressy black pants with white opera masks over their faces. Half of them wore top hats. The women of the crew, which there were plenty of, wore sequined silver one-piece suits, knee-high glistening high-heel boots and elbow-length white gloves. They also wore masks over their eyes, decorated at the edges with a plumage of feathers, the same feathers they wore in crowns on top of their heads. Those without feathers wore a top that was white instead of black like the rest.

"And that" Aleister said, touching the brim of his top hat with his wide and powerful finger, "is only the first trick of the evening!!!" The Buster Pirates cheered loud and applauded. Sitting on chairs, barrels, bundles of rope and even not sitting at all, all the crew had gathered under the shade of their Grand Sail to watch this spectacle of a show. The sun was still out. It was barely afternoon, it seemed, and the only clouds to appear were insignificant wisps of white that didn't even block the sun they were laid across. The wind was still absent and both ships were anchored down to stay in their place on the sea.

At the front of the audience, closest to the stage, sat Bard on an empty barrel, Rez in a chair, Zan who stood, Araly in her loose hammock strung up between two upright pieces of furniture from dry storage, Gretta who sat in the most plush chair available and Maxwell, who slept silently out of unconscious respect for what was happening. Aleister took the stage by vanishing behind a twirling cloth and reappearing behind his line, somehow hidden by their meager forms compared to his long enough to stand up and throw his arms out above their heads.

"Thank you all!" Aleister said with a bow. His crew departed for either side of the stage and hid behind the curtains, veiled by the darkness of the stage's lighting which focused now only on Aleister. "Thank you very much. It is an honor to entertain for such a large crowd. It has been quite a long while since we last had such great patronage. I swear, on my life as a true entertainer and my honor as a pirate, you shall be entertained this day!" The crowd cheered again, awed solely by the charisma of his speech rather than by any illusion he may have conjured. The cloth he used to appear and disappear with was gone, however, a detail which Gretta noted in the pages of the journal she kept.

_I must analyze this magic_ she thought as she wrote _and find out how to utilize it myself. I must adapt to some kind of power while it is in front of me! If I could have such a power, such a mastery of demonic arts, then...possibly, more Demons would see me as I see them._ She glanced across the row, her hood lowered, to Zan who was standing with a grin as he watched and waited for something to truly amaze him...

"Ahahaha!!!" Aleister laughed heartily. He took his hat from his head as his crew moved off to the sides of the stage and spun it around. "I shall present to you my first illusion by introducing my faithful assistant and First Mate! Everyone, please take a moment and look inside of my hat." He let the whole crew take a look inside the empty hat and slowly repeated the show. Once everyone agreed that it was indeed completely empty he placed it on the stage in front of him, upright. He clapped his hands together and slowly parted them with a white-tipped black wand appearing as his gloves parted. Bard immediately applauded.

"Sleight of hand" Zan said.

"It was up his sleeve" Rez began "and when he clapped it slid forward. He just took it between his fingers and-" Bard reached over and placed an iron-tough finger in front of Rez's face. Rez looked over and saw him smiling intently at the show so he backed away and pushed Bard's finger away. "Whatever...." he said. Aleister twirled the wand between his thick fingers quickly and gripped it between his thumb and index finger with a light press.

"Watch the hat, please!" he said. "**Ala-Bala-Cadra-Kala!!!"** At his stirring summoning chant and the constant swirling movements of his wand he suddenly smashed his top hat with the wand and the thick fabric of the apparel buckled down under the weight of his swing. The audience became boisterous with tension and anticipation. What would happen? With his top hat smashed by the seemingly flimsy wand in his fingers they did not know. Aleister took his wand up and sheathed it coolly in the breast of his suit, vanishing it from his person again. The top hat on the stage floor began to shake and expand as if it was being inflated with air like a balloon.

Then, suddenly, and exactly like a balloon, it burst with a cloud of colorful smoke and flying paper streamers. In the midst of all that noise and color stood the slender figure of a woman wearing dazzling silver with a trailing cape of transparent, ethereal, sparkling crystal quality. Her hair was done up to fit into the enormous feathered headdress she wore. Huge feathery plumage stuck out in a perfect half-circle from her head. She was a young girl and only appeared to be somewhat taller than Araly. Then the smoke cleared, and her face and skin were revealed. She was a delicate and dazzlingly fair-skinned girl with white hair flowing in thick curls into her headdress. **And Red eyes.** Her face was plastered with apathy despite its beauty and she wore glistening silver lipstick and mascara.

"Presenting" Aleister introduced "the wondrous, dazzling, arcane beauty, **Vega Void!!!**" The crowd cheered suddenly. Vega threw up her arms and back her head to reveal her dazzling body and exotically luscious curves in the sparkling silver one-piece suit. She looked out over the crowd, all men cheering with varied degrees of excited blushes, and the line of important people sitting front and center who all applauded at the marvel of the trick itself. Except one. Vega had to lower her stance and drop her jaw in honest surprise when she spotted Gretta, a girl who looked almost exactly like her. Gretta noticed as well, and once the audience died down in their cheers they seemed to notice it too.

"Oh wow" Bard said. He looked between Vega and Gretta rapidly, coming to the simplest conclusion he could conceive. "He...**must've cloned her suddenly! With Magic!!!**" Araly smacked him in the head passively. Gretta was deeply staring at the girl on stage, a stunning, more mature reflection of herself, and she noted the occurrence down quickly.

_It is entirely unexpected_ she wrote _that I could exist in two places at once. Therefore, this girl, must be a **replica of mine made out of magic!**_ Her naïvety was on par with Bard's for that moment, but the show went on regardless. Vega merely passed the occurrence off as strange....

* * *

"Now then" Aleister continued, "with the assistance of Miss Vega Void, we shall continue the show with a dazzling display of illusion and mystical wonderment!"

"YAAAH!!!" the crowd cheered.

"I wonder when he'll get tired of that word" Zan said with a grin. Rez snickered at his remark.

"What's he gonna do?" Rez wondered. "He'd need a big-ass cannon to shoot himself out of, wouldn't he?"

"Maybe he'll shoot Vega" Gretta said.

"Yeah, she's thin enough to be a projectile" Rez agreed.

"Oh, not like that" Gretta said. "Maybe he'll just shoot her." Rez froze up in shocked disgust at Gretta's graphic thought. He looked over and saw her flatly, passively, emotionlessly observing the performance on the stage.

_What the hell?_ Rez thought. _Is she secretly a sadist or something!?_

"Miss Void" Aleister began, "if you would, please set up the next act."

"Why?" Vega asked. "You're a big enough man to carry an entire stage with you and you can't bring out a simple cart? What does that say for your power as a magician, exactly?" Yet again, the crowd was stunned into silence.

_She even talks like Gretta!_ Everyone realized.

"Ah" Aleister began, keeping his showmanship grin and positive tone, "but is it not the job of the assistant to assist?" He leaned forward, wringing his hands together and brought his wide, smiling face down to her level. "Be a dear and get the supplies, please?"

"Fair enough" Vega said. She reached up and plucked a long hair from his beard. He winced away and stood straight up, covering his mouth and holding in any potential shouting that would result.

_She's as mean as Gretta....._ the crew thought.

Vega held up the hair she plucked and straightened it out. A spotlight came down on her. The hair was a thick to her as a slender, smooth rope. Even so the thickness meant little to her and she went quickly to work folding and looping and tying it to itself in many complicated knots. Once she was finished she reached behind her waist and retrieved a pair of scissors.

"I shall cut this string" she said, ignoring what it really was "in at least three places. The remaining broken knots will fall to the floor of the stage in pieces, and as I gather them up, they will reform into one continuous piece. Please observe closely." The pirates all leaned in. A timpani drum-roll sounded from both sides of the stage by the unseen crew still operating in the shadows of the magic. Zan was the only one who refused to focus where he was asked and instead watched Aleister for his movement and reaction. He was watching just the same, smiling down at his assistant as she cut the knotted hair into pieces and let them all fall down at her feet. Once it was completely cut she reached down and gathered them all up into her hands. Then, with the thin ends pinched in her fingers, she pulled it to its full length as a **whole and uncut length of string with many tiny flags handing from it!**

"Ta-da" she flatly announced. "It's magic, isn't it?" The crowd ignored her apathy and cheered loudly at her effort. Not only was it whole again but it was joined by tiny flags of all different colors, a whole rainbow with different hued colors between each whole color change. She wound the string up around her hand and into a neat ball. A tuxedo crewman came out wheeling a cart and took a bow to the audience. Vega placed the end of her trick on the cart and took a polite bow to the audience as well. Aleister's big, mighty hands clapped together as he applauded behind her as well.

"A wonderful trick, Vega!" he said. "You've learned well from me, but it'd be an insult to expect anything less from my very own assistant!"

"It's simply a matter of mind" Vega said. "It took you years to learn that and I days. I'm just much smarter than you." Aleister stopped applauding and puckered his lips. The audience laughed and enjoyed themselves thoroughly.

"All part of the act" Zan said. "I wasn't expecting comedy, of course. It's a pleasant sort of surprise."

"True" Rez said. "I can't help but feel like their act is a bit....familiar though."

"I don't get it" Bard said shamelessly. "I can learn all sorts of complicated year-long martial arts training in a couple days."

"Ah, there it is" Zan said as Rez glowered at Bard and grit his teeth. Both Aleister and Vega took a bow to their gracious audience. Aleister moved forward to the front of the stage and smiled wide out to his audience.

"Now" he began "with the willing aid of my assistant, we shall wow you all over again with a most powerful illusion!"

"Willing?" Vega said. "You never told me to make a choice, so am I really willing?"

"You're the assistant, so you must be" Aleister said.

"Or is this abuse of power?" Vega said. "Should I mutiny?"

"Ah, that's enough out of you!" Aleister said with greatly feigned anger. He clapped his hands twice and a cage fell down from the top of the stage, a thin veil of curtains that could in no way hide a cage so heavy, tall, broad and finely meshed with thick metal bars. Vega looked out with her hands up to her cheeks, even the apathy of her face still plainly visible as she flatly exclaimed

"Oh no!" and commenced to slowly lay herself down on the floor as if fainted.

_Is this funny?_ The crew thought. Gretta was noting that it was, indeed, not to her. Araly was laughing lightly into her hand at the sheer antics and the intentional poor delivery of each line they spoke. Aleister clapped his hands together and as he drew them apart revealed a long and shining sort of object.

"Now then, Miss Vega Void" he spoke, unsheathing something very sharp and metal, "I shall see that this performance becomes something fantastic for you!" He wielded in his hand a narrow, long saber, complete with a rounded golden handguard over the hilt. Many pirates froze, captivated by not the blade or the danger but by Aleister's apparent honesty in the wild and threatening grin across his face. It had lost its joviality and adapted something wholly mad and twisted.... "HYAH!!!" he shouted as he trust his sword through the metal. The audience was stunned to silence. He drew the sword out and stabbed again, each time growing more rapid and random until his thick, powerful arms moved in a blur of silver and black.

"Well this is entertaining" Zan said. "How's he going to get away with murder?"

"She went under the stage" Rez said. Zan turned to him with a skeptical smirk and raise of his eyebrows. "I ain't being critical. I know most of this is some kind of legitimate mind-tricks and illusions and stuff, but don't underestimate the eyes of a true Duelist. She didn't up and disappear, it was slow. **She was lowered so slowly that no one would notice until they started looking for her.**"

"What powerful eyes you have" Zan said. "It must be hard to stay entertained at things like this when you know everything."

"Yeah" Rez said.

"Is she okay!?" Bard exclaimed. Aleister stopped his sword, ran a finger along the flat of the blade and then sheathed it, magically, into nothing between his two palms. "**IS HE OKAY!? DID HE STAB HIMSELF!?!?**"

"Quiet!" Araly exclaimed, slapping him upside the head once more.

"Not to worry, ladies and gentlemen" Aleister said with a cocky fix of his bow. "Despite the dangerous situation presented, I assure you that Miss Vega Void is perfectly fine. Please, raise the cage!" The cage was indeed risen back up by chains into the impossibly thin curtains. Rez followed it up the whole time and watched it vanish from sight behind the curtains overhead, skeptically glaring at it when it went away. Then he looked back down and saw a torn-apart suit that Vega had just worn and a floor full of holes that led down into a cramped space where a bunch of columns were which kept the stage up and steady. Aleister had pierced down nearly to the Buster Pirate's own deck, and no possible means of Vega's escape were present.

"Maybe she's dead" Zan said casually.

"Don't think like that at all!" Araly scolded.

"Do you think she's dead?" a pirate whispered from behind. Araly turned and huffed at them, silencing them fast.

"She's in your hat" Gretta called. Aleister turned to Gretta and looked tense.

"A-ha!" Bard exclaimed. "It's magic, so of course she's in the magic hat! We're right, aren't we?"

"I was right before you" Gretta said casually.

"She isn't!" Aleister said. He took off his hat and shook it out before showing it to everyone. "Look! Look! It is empty! I am not the kind of magician to repeat his tricks twice in the same setting!"

"Where could she be then?" the pirates all wondered.

"That's all you thought!?" Aleister exclaimed. "Hey now, what kind of production do you think this is? You think that low of me?"

"We give up!" Bard proclaimed, standing up with his arm in the air. "Where is she?"

"Wait a sec" Zan shouted. He pointed to Aleister and grinned. "You've always got a trick up your sleeve, right? Then roll them up for us!"

"Could she really be up his sleeve?" Rez wondered. "That doesn't seem likely...or possible."

"Just go with it" Zan whispered. "We'll get him to reveal his powers after too long." Rez smirked at Zan.

"Do you really give up, Captain?" Gretta asked.

"Well, I do" Bard said. "I mean, I don't speak for everyone right now, but-"

"Yes you do!" Araly angrily exclaimed with a kick to his neck.

"Then I shall reveal it" Gretta said as she stood up. Nobody had noticed while she was sitting, but now Gretta seemed to be a bit taller and her body had more of an accent in its curves, and all around she looked more mature. Then she turned to the pirates with the flutter of her silver lashes and disrobed herself down to her sterling silver onepiece suit. "I am here!" Vega announced.

"**OH MY GOOOOOOD!!!!!"** the crew exclaimed.

"Then where's Gretta?" Bard wondered.

"Behind you" Gretta said with a quick poke to his back. He jumped with a start at her presence, which nobody noticed, as she had somehow wound up in the barrel he sat on. After a moment of complete silence and awe the pirate crowd stood up and cheered, applauding madly, while all three players bowed respectfully. Gretta curtsied.

* * *

Once the actors were set back into their places the show resumed. Yet more fantastic feats awaited the eager crew. Aleister showed them tricks of sleight of hand which even Rez could not follow, making swords and tables and even members of the audience appear in his closed hands. Those men simply made their way bashfully back to their seats and claimed to have no idea at all what happened. The crew of the Top Hat Pirates returned to the stage and the men all formed a human pyramid against a brightly lit curtain backdrop. Once assembled and high, Aleister summoned his powers with his incantation and snapped his fingers. The men, who at first seemed supported by the weight of the next man below, all rolled backwards in the air and stood on the back wall. **By means of magic the backdrop of the stage became their floor, and they danced and spun and made a merry show by walking to the stage and standing upright once more to bow to the cheering audience.**

Aleister held out a broad and opaque curtain before his body and threw it over his head. The cloth drifted down, his body gone, and everyone began looking around curiously for him, under seats and behind the mast. Vega caught their attention with a tiny sound popper and directed their eyes to a top hat she held. It was a normal, regular-human sized top hat, but she set it on the flat center of the spread-out cloth and stepped away. The cloth moved up, as if it was inflated, and then hung up just enough to show the floral-print pants of Aleister, who had reappeared lacking his original hat with the tiny one atop his head under the cloth. He removed the cloth, tossed it aside, where it seemed to vanish somehow, and began unfolding the normal top hat like a cloth until it was the right size for his own head. Once again, wild cheering and applause shook the deck as pirates were stomping their feet in amusement.

"Now for this next trick" Aleister began "we will need another participant from the audience." The pirates were mostly wary to volunteer, save of course for their eager young captain who didn't even wait to be accepted. Bard simply jumped to the stage and posed before his crew with a wide smile and a flex of his chest.

"Go Captain Bard!" the pirates cheered. Vega grabbed his ear and pinched, forcing him to wince.

"Don't be too showy" she said. "That's our job right now." She let go and Bard chuckled shyly.

"Right" he said. "Sorry about that."

"Well then, Bard" Aleister began, "you seem quite eager about participating in this. Are you at all nervous about what my happen to you if my magics go wrong?" Vega nodded for him flatly. Bard chuckled along with the audience.

"Nah" Bard said. "You're obviously an amazing magician. I shouldn't have anything to worry about, right?"

"Indeed!" Aleister proclaimed. "That's the spirit! What a fine, brave young man you are! Glad to have you here!" Aleister extended his white-gloved hand for Bard to shake. Bard nodded and took his hand, his forearm itself being grabbed in Aleister's clutch, which he curiously cocked his brow too.

_His glove feels a little strange_ he thought. _When I shook his hand earlier, it just felt like a regular, huge glove. Now...._ Bard left the shake and looked at his arm, **which was gone.** His arm stopped just above his elbow and the rest was simply not there at all. Bard waved his arm around, hoping at first that the rest would just pop out, then felt to see if it was invisible, his hand running over the ending stump of his arm as his face sank in pale horror.

"**GAAAAAAAHHH!!!!"** he screamed.

"AAAAHHHH!!!!" the crew replied.

"What the hell!?" Rez shouted as he took to his feet. Zan stopped him from any advance with his arm and held him back. "What's going on, genius?"

"It could be...." Zan began. He huffed away his concern and simply bade Rez to sit back down with a push. "Let's be calm for now and wait. There's bound to be an explanation for this, just as he did with the men from the audience."

"Wha, wh-wh-w-w-whaaa" Bard stuttered mindlessly. "What'd you do to my arm!? Where is it!?" Aleister chuckled at Bard and Vega just gave a showy jazzing of her hands in front of him. "This ain't a joke, man! It's weird!" Bard looked down at his incomplete arm and could see it moving, he could feel it still there, but more than obviously it was not.

"More importantly" Zan called "where is the trick?"

"Coming right up!" Aleister exclaimed. He snapped his fingers and summoned a crewman from behind his leg, who appeared from nowhere at all. The man held out his right arm and Aleister pressed down on it with his hand, making it vanish the same as Bard's, right up to the same point, but as his hand drew away the arm had returned, **Bard's arm on the body of the tuxedo man!** Aleister did the same to Bard's arm, replacing it with the black sleeved arm of the crewman whose arm he had taken away. The man walked to Bard with Bard's right arm extended forth as he opened his hand in the attempt to shake with his own arm. Bard was so confused by what was happening that his fingers just started twitching as his body shook.

"I'm so confused...." Bard said with a defeated sigh. The man reached him and extended his arm out to its owner to shake. "Ah, nice to meet you" Bard said, shaking hands in the most perplexing manner possible. Zan was grinning with a villainous look of victory.

"What?" Rez said. "You've got it figure out?" Zan walked forward and mounted the stage, turning to Aleister as the crowd began their wave of applause and cheering again.

"Can I help you?" Vega asked, approaching Zan with her hands politely folded down. Zan shot a steel glance at her.

"You're not as good as him" Zan said. "**I can see that thing without looking...**" Vega just stared at him with a cold emotionless gaze and clutched at the blade of the small knife in her hands. She stepped back. "Oh sir?" Zan called, finally revealing his presence on the stage. "Can you tell me, and all of us, what is the worst-tasting fruit you've ever eaten?" Aleister's expression shifted from an accepting grin to the applause to one accompanied by the darkest of leers. Bard and the crewman went on shaking hands, each others hands in the other's arm, until the crewman broke away by force and held Bard's strong, disproportionately thick arm out to the side. Bard was confused. Aleister started laughing, very loudly, with no hint of real joviality at all.

"Ahahahahaha! How sharp of you!" he exclaimed. Aleister drew out a cloth from nowhere and started wiping his hands. "You are a very astute man. I'm glad we didn't call on you to be our volunteer. You might have _ruined_ the show."

"Don't be a jerk, Zan" Marco called. "Let him do his show!"

"We don't want to know how he does it!" another aggravated, burly pirate shouted. "That's part of the magic!"

"Then what I do" Zan said "must be magic too." The pirates all joined in a confused grunting tilt of heads. Zan turned back to Aleister and held genuine surprise for what he saw. Aleister still held the cloth in plain sight, but not in plain hands, for what hands he had were **invisible, almost completely.** Rez stood up in shock, along with most of the crew, to see the shapes of hands invisibly rippling through the air.

"Before I set out on the Grand Line" Aleister began, showing the the whole audience his invisible hands, "I was simply a magician with nothing to my act but the prestidigitation that has impressed and astounded you all with the assistance of the agile and swift Vega Void." Vega moved out from behind Zan and bowed quickly. "I am a man who ate the **Portal Portal Fruit!** It turned my hands into **gateways into an infinite dimension of unlimited space! I am a Portal Man!!!**"

"Give me my arm back!!!" Bard shouted, pointing an arm that wasn't his at Aleister.

"Huuu" Aleister huffed. "Never before has anyone predicted my power, nor has any single man been so rude as to wreck my entire act by storming my stage!"

"I've been called tactless by lots of people" Zan said "as I stabbed them to death through the wall...I am a man who ate the Meld Meld fruit, granting me the power to pass through solid matter."

"And I'm pissed off!" Bard shouted. "I want my arm back!" A heavy air descended on the stage. Vega very quietly departed with short dragging shuffles of her feet. Zan watched her out of the corner of his eye as she seemed to be running away from the stage entirely. Aleister cracked his neck with a quick jerk of his head. The ocean shook with force. All the pirates recognized the feeling, the heavy swarming darkness before the storm, and stood up with weapons armed. From the curtains of the stage the entire crew, twice as large as it was presented, came running out armed as well, ready for war. Zan placed a cigarette in his mouth and lit it with a smirk.

"I cannot" Aleister said.

"But you're a magician" Bard said. "You can. Give it back."

"**Now that you know my secrets"** Aleister lowed **"there is no way I can allow you to live to spread this news! I shall make you all _DISAPPEAR!!!_**" The fight was one. What all the men of the crew truly awaited had come, not in the form of entertainment but in the form of war, their greatest source of pleasure...


	104. Aleister's Magic Hands

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The fight was on! The Buster Pirates, barbaric and strong as they were large with force, clashed head on with the crew of the Top Hat Pirates, captained by the mysterious and powerful man Aleister Altair. The stage was his to command as the pirates charged it, and immediately many men were sent into trap doors which they barely fit through into tunneled pits which somehow made them fall from the ceiling of the stage. The magical crew ran around the traps, knowing well where they were, armed with fencing swords and short daggers for those who chose to wield pistols. The fight was loud and chaotic and everyone joined as quickly as they could to participate. All but Araly, Gretta and Bard who angrily stomped past the fighters to try and find his own arm again.

"Where is he?" Bard wondered. He looked at his arm and could think of nothing more than getting his own back, for the weak and thin forearm of another man's was attached to his by way of Aleister's potent skill of portal handling.

"Oh no!" Aleister shouted. He charged with his short legs and large body over to Bard with his invisible hands wound back. "You won't be in this fight, young man! **Close Space!**" Aleister swung both his hands at Bard and missed, so far as he knew. Bard had jumped up into the air at a level with his face with his right leg wound back.

"**RANKYAKUU!!!"** Bard shouted. He kicked a blade of air that sped and sliced right through Aleister's tuxedo and made a gash in his arm. The rest of the blade continued past him and smashed into the stage behind him.

_What was that!?_ Aleister paused to wonder. _It was as if he threw a blade of air at me! Could this be an ability of some sort? _Bard landed and started pushing through the crowd with his shoulders. He stood out and was targeted immediately by many of the enemy crew who rushed at him with straight swords with the intent to stab him full of holes. Bard backflipped standing and stepped his leg back. He was winding up a sweeping kick with an angry glower bright on his face.

"Avoid him!" Aleister shouted. "Don't rashly charge their captain! He has some unknown power!!!"

"Rankyakuu!" Bard shouted as he kicked. The blade was long and curved just so to fly into all the surrounding bodies that charged at them. Their thick armor underneath the dazzling garb they wore was pushed with the might of a battle-ax swing and they tumbled away, clearing a path for mighty Bard to rush through. He spied, at the rear of the stage, the man he sought fending off one of his own crewmen with his own arm. He blocked with Bard's arm and from that distance Bard could feel the nicking breezes of air that the swords swept. That crewman saw Bard approaching and pushed his enemy away, placing the edge of his flat, sharp blade to Bard's wrist.

"Damn!" Bard exclaimed. He stomped himself into place, rushed from behind and took in a long, quick breath. **"TEKKAI!!!"** His muscles tensed and his skin hardened to iron, and no amount of cutting harmed him. His arm on the other man was sliced at the wrist in vain and became to heavy for him to wield.

"Punk!" the Buster Pirate shouted. He kicked the man's face and knocked off his operatic mask, then stole his sword for his other hand and hauled the unconscious body over his back. "I've got Bard's arm! Fight without mercy!" he proclaimed. The pirates within earshot that were holding back forced themselves forward. They pushed through the guards of blades and fired into the open paths to shoot through men's arms and cut women's legs, all fighting with the equal merciless warring intent to harm and be unharmed, and some even with no care to the amount of harm they endured so long as their body continued to fight.

Bard held his breath and his stance until his crew came to fight the pirates off of him so that his Tekkai could be canceled, but even then he had his problems with it. _Damn!_ He exclaimed. _How did I cancel this!? It's too exciting right now to relax!!!_

Zan was equally avoided and feared, and was targeted directly by Aleister himself. From across the expansive stage, somehow much larger and longer to walk on that it was to observe at a distance, Aleister drew out a cannon from his hand that was loaded and prepared to fire. He aimed at Zan and lit it with a spark of fire that came from his other hand, a burning ember at the end of a torch that he huffed at through his nostril into a fuming flame. Zan ran at him to gain ground and jumped just as the cannon fired. He let his leg be struck through by the ball and let it harmlessly phase through his skin and off the boat. He grinned in arrogance and landed in the midst of a battle.

"No one runs away" Zan said. He took his bladed grips and stabbed into the shoulders, arms, bellies and shins of all the men and women within his reach, then let the pirates pin them down and render them unconscious. "No one gets to escape." Zan continued to run, raising his fists to block the odd or deflected blows and control the battle around him while Aleister made his way across the stage as well.

"Gah!" A pirate shouted. "He stole my sword! Don't let him near you!"

"Fire at him if you can!" a pirate said. One near the front of the stage who held a bazooka over his shoulder, aimed at Aleister with a scowling glare.

"Eat this, Portal boy!!!" He fired his cannon and Aleister caught the ball that flew at him. It harmlessly passed into his portal hand, leaving behind a trail of smoke that Aleister absorbed as his hand passed through it, and then out the other hand when he picked a careful target, a clustered together group of Buster Pirates. The explosion scattered and weakened them, leaving them prey for the rest of his crew to pick off and work for the active Buster pirates nearby to save.

"Hahahaha!!!" Aleister chuckled. "Now this is a show! The greatest show on the seas! This is what a pirate is born to do, to plunder and pilage, all for his entertainment!"

"HEY!" Bard shouted. He was mid-flight and bound for Aleister's face with a leg drawn back and a vicious scowl on his face. "**GIVE ME MY ARM BA-"** and then he was gone, right into the palms of Aleister held together in a protective barrier.

"Captain!" a pirate shouted in dismay.

"Don't worry" Zan said. "It's not a death-zone in there. There's at least enough oxygen to keep a fire burning for a long time so he should be fine. Concentrate on getting that other guy in there as well! Maybe the laws of attachment only work insofar as Aleister allows them to in that dimension of his!"

"How troublesome your astuteness is!" Aleister called. He swung a fist, or what appeared as a fist, down at Zan who dodged in emergency out of the way. The stage Aleister's hand hit vanished into his portal dimension and stretched right down to the deck of the Imperial Dragon which had been dented by the immaterial knuckles of his hand. "You'd go so far as to venture a guess on that, but I've no shame in giving a dead man the truth he deserves!"

"Dead?" Zan asked. He spat his cigarette at Aleister as an act of defiance and stood in an open space where his comrades had spread away from to avoid the empowered magician. "You're late to tell a dead man tales. I died a long time ago, before you even knew what this sea could do."

"Silence!" Aleister demanded. Zan melded down through the stage and avoided Aleister's grip as he stole away more wood and steel from the stage and stored it in his dimension of parts without order. He thought, however, that he had got him and stood up grinning. "No man has lived through discovering my secrets of power! No man should! Magic can only work if it is believed to be unexplainable!" He turned his glaring eyes to the crew, who had finished fighting. The overwhelming strength of the small army of men had trumped the pomp and flare of Aleister's stage performers. They all glared at him now, and were joined finally by the stomp of Rez's heavy boots to the stage as he drew out his mighty Hell Tiger cannon-blade. All Aleister could to was smile and clap his hands together.

* * *

In the void of Aleister's controlled portal space many objects floated around, all shot into the weightless area by means of two large hand-shaped windows that viewed out into the open world which changed form as Aleister used his own hands in combat. Bard floated along, holding his breath, with his still good arm raking at the space around his strained face.

_I wonder if I can breathe in here....._ Bard thought. He tried and found the air stagnant yet real and breathable. He gave a great sigh of relief and wiped his brow with the hand that wasn't his. "Well, that's a relief! I wouldn't want to die in a place like this!" Bard tried swimming through space with his single arm, a task that would have proven no real difficulty in water, but his weightless state proved all too futile to move about. He saw an object drifting toward him, a rusted iron bar, and he grabbed onto it. He floated along with it as its motion carried him close to the hand portals in the middle of the wide, colorful space, more confused than anything about where he was and how he had become there.

"This guy's ability is bogus" Bard said. "Stupid magician and his awesome skill! I can't go hand-to-hand with a guy who has no hands! My attacks are almost useless against him too, since I can't get in close enough for a punch without getting swallowed up by this weird-o dimension. And for some reason I can't move around in it!" Bard sighed with a defeated grin. "I guess it's up to the guys to finish this one for me. Not that I don't have faith in them, but it suck not being able to help....." As Bard drifted hopelessly his comrades continued fighting outside, at the mercy of Aleister's amazing prestidigitation combat skills.

"Voila!" he shouted. "From up my sleeve, I **pull out a cannon!!!**" And so he did. Not from his hands, but from up his sleeves he aimed a cannon with his wrist and blasted a group away from him and across the stage.

"Charge in!" Rez commanded. "Break his guard and beat him up!"

"Get Bard's arm into his portal!" A pirate shouted. Behind him was the man wielding two sabers and an unconscious body across his back with Bard's arm consciously dangling on the man's body.

"You shall not upstage me!" Aleister shouted. He threw a punch and sent out a cluttered mess of iron pieces, wooden scraps and random junk all balled up into a destructive and chaotic mess. The pirates ran from it and avoided being crushed and buried as the junk spread out and hit everywhere. The pirate carrying the man who wielded Bard's arm was guarded and passed the objectified person off to another.

"Let me handle this" the bulky and strong-armed pirate said. He took the tuxedo collar in a grip and stepped back, preparing to throw the unconscious body at Aleister directly. "Get him to guard with his hands!"

"Got it" the pirates around him said. They drew out their pistols and fired in turn. Aleister blocked the bullets and saw through his transparent hands the body flying at him. He stepped to the side and dodged the bullets and the body which flew down into the arm of another pirate who was waiting behind.

"Follow-up pass!" the pirate exclaimed. He tossed the body at Aleister, right to his hands, and hit it right into his palm! But the body did not vanish. **It was cradled in the soft white cloth drawn from out of Aleister's portal hand as a glove.**

"I can materialize my hands at will with whatever I wish" Aleister said. The white cloth covered across his thick fingers and covered his hand immediately. He picked the man up, who was still dazed and unconscious, and put him in the hat atop his head. "Hahaha! Come and get it, you scoundrels! Your captain is trapped within my dimensional area and his arm is safely with me!"

"Is it now?" Zan asked. He was walking on Aleister's mighty shoulders, standing just tall enough to touch the brim of the magic, black hat. "Nothing is safe when an assassin is around, you know."

"Quiet, you!" Aleister shouted. He swatted at his shoulder just as Zan jumped up and through the top hat. Aleister grabbed his hat and jostled the contents within immediately. The pirates continued to converge on him from below.

"Take the hat!" Rez demanded. A pirate armed with a grappling hook and rope spun the weapon and threw it up, latching right into the thick brim of the hat.

"Got it!" he declared.

"Are you daft!?" Aleister shouted. He passed an invisible hand over a section of the rope and it vanished, leaving an incomplete string still attached to his hat. "No solid matter can harm me! Nothing short of an all-consuming fire could prevent my hands from protecting me!" Aleister wound up a backhand swing and threw out a tight gathering of rusted swords and sharp points of iron that spread across the stage. Pirates lacking armor were hurt and downed, covered by those who avoided the attacks to be carried off stage as quickly as possible. The attack reached wide and hit nearly everyone that was charging. Rez survived by blocking with his Hell Tiger. The Paladins survived the attack as well, armed with blades and harpoons and wearing **suits of metal armor layered with leather and covered with cloth. On their capes was the symbol they stood for, the justice they wanted: the insignia of the Buster Pirates!**

"We shall defend our honor!" the leading Paladin shouted. The others roared back **"HURAHH!!!"**

"More stage-hogs!" Aleister lowed. He turned his hat around to flicked the rope out of his face so that his glaring scowl went unimpeded. "I'll say this only once: This is my stage, and **you are NOT WELCOME ON IT!!!"** He drew out a cannon from each invisible finger and aimed them all down. From inside, Bard could see things moving around, assisted by totally arcane means, as if of their own will to the hand portals.

"What the hell?" Bard said. "That's weird. How is it all moving like that?" Bard took his feet to the iron rod he rode and pushed himself through weightless space to an ember-glowing torch that was moving to the fuses of the armed cannons. He grabbed it and rode it with his weightless body toward the portals. "Maybe I can get out like this...." The torch hit the fuse and lit it. The cannons were ready to fire, half of them within and half outside of the portals space. "Maybe....first I should...." Bard's thoughts immediately jumped from a statement of 'perhaps' to his body trying to spin itself in a way to catch all the different objects in the same attack.

"Raaaaan" he began. Something fell through the portal at the last second, just as the cannons mutely fired at his comrades outside, and hit into him, forcing him to finish up his lead into his attack improperly with a stuttered "KYKAGGKA!!!" Bard grabbed the object that hit him and saw it to be a man in a tuxedo, and extending out from that improperly ended tux sleeve was an arm, _his _arm, which he moved and saw move separate yet still somehow attached to his own body. "Alright! My arm! But, wait...how do I get it off?" On a whim, Bard grabbed his arm and pulled. It popped right off. "Well, that was easy. **I MUST BE MAGIC!!!!**" Outside, after the cannons fired and the Paladins were all but struck down and on their knees in pain, Aleister withdrew the objects back into his portal space and prepared to tip his hat in victory.

"I would commend your efforts" he said "but to such spoil-sports as you there is no greater comfort for me than to know that you have been forever silenced. Please, do not leave your seats, for I am about to prepare the greatest act of the day. **I'm going to make this entire ship disappear!!!"**

"Like crap you are!" Rez shouted. He drew out a gunblade and aimed to fire, not at Aleister but at the stage above him. His genius eyes calculated the trajectory his bullet would take from bounding off the metal beams to sink into the man's thick neck.

"I wouldn't try it" Aleister warned upon seeing Rez's actions. "At any moment I can summon up that fool of a boy and use his body to block whatever attack you dare plan! And if not that, I can certainly use his own arm against you from within my top hat!" At that he took off his hat and held it out before him. The top fell off, cut open like the lid of a can, and his eyes went wide and bloodshot open. His grin continued to scowl with malice but his eyes were in panic.

_How!?_ Aleister thought. _What happened!? How can this be!?_

"Ta-daaah!" Zan exclaimed. "It's **Magic!"** He swung on the rope from the brim of the hat and made a leap for Aleister's arm. He stabbed his blade into the man's wrist, straight into a pulsing vein that vanished into his invisible hand, then pressed his feet against his hard skin and leaped back to the floor, landing on his feet with a slide into a proper fighting position with a smirk on his face.

"GAAAHH!!!" Aleister screamed. He couldn't hold his bleeding arm but with a pass over of his hand he managed to wrap it in cloth before the blood stained his sleeve. "You-you-you bastard! **I will make the ocean around this ship vanish and sink you all to the depths!!!"**

"Sure you will" Rez said. "Not that I don't believe or anything...."

* * *

"I am magic!" Bard said. He took his two hands, both his own and on their proper arms together in front of his face. Then, he wrapped his index finger around the thumb of his opposite hand and pulled it apart, though in reality, it was the same thumb of the same hand bent into his index finger while the other thumb was bent down. "**MAGIC!!!** Heehehehehee!!!" Bard twirled through the air with a gleeful grin on his face. The man who had once owned his right arm had been corrected and his right arm put back in its proper place. Bard had already detached his whole arm from his shoulder and swapped arms and hands completely, but the coordination of them together was so confusing that he nearly passed out and let himself stay corrected while he could.

Only after he had fooled around enough did it hit him.

"OOHHH!! I know Geppou! I can escape anytime I want!!!" To that end Bard forced himself to face the hand portals that he had drifted away from and curled his legs up for a powerful push. **"GEPPOU!!!"** He shot against the air and drifted powerfully forward, away from the distant and colorful expanse of floating, random matter and towards the shaded stage lights. He got to the hand-shaped portals and smashed into one like a hard and heavy window. Before it moved away he grabbed onto the thumb and was swung around just the same as how Aleister moved his hands from the outside.

"Wait a sec!" Bard exclaimed. "This doesn't make sense now! Shouldn't I be able to pass through it!? Isn't that how a portal should work!?" Bard remained trapped for the time being as Aleister continued to fight against the Buster Pirates star members Zan and Rez, backed by the moral safeguards of the rest of the crew off stage. They were watching with the heated interest of an audience watching the events of a play unfold live before them, ignoring the potentially fatal ramifications that any given action could have on them.

"If you guys are just gonna stand and watch" Rez roared "the least you could do is try and protect the girls!!!"

"Aren't they already safe?" Marco asked. He looked over and their empty seats, as the other pirates had before they went to sit.

"I hope the dark-haired guy gets hit" a pirate whispered. "That'd be awesome."

"When'd they leave!?" Rez demanded.

"Eyes front, pal!" Zan warned. Aleister stomped toward him and made a swipe of his hand. Rez swung his sword to the side, slashed into the stage floor and pulled himself away in a mid-air spin to avoid the sweeping invisible hand of Aleister. The wood of the stage where Rez stood had vanished in a clean scooping arc. The mad magician turned with a deep scowl and eyes of pure hatred with a cannon armed out of his invisible index finger.

"Don't try to outgun me, big man" Rez warned. "This sword isn't a prop, you know!" Rez swung up and fired a cannonball, hitting the cannon from out of Aleister's hand so that it spun and exploded in the air just close enough to force Aleister backward in a stagger. He had stepped near the front end of the stage and had to swing both his arms forward and stomp his feet down to remain standing safely. He began running forward again, both hands blocking forward as wide as they could, while Zan melded through the stage and popped up right beside him.

"Boo!" Zan shouted. He slashed into Aleister's leg and cut through his floral-printed pants. Aleister stomped his injured leg down and spun a backhand around at Zan, throwing all manner of metal and wooden scraps his way as an attack. Zan just let them fly through his body and melded down through them and back into the stage.

"Wide open!" Rez said. He had both his gunblades out and fired rapidly at Aleister's back. The bullets exploded on contact and continued relentlessly until both his clips had run out. As Rez reloaded Aleister prepared another attack, drawing out a cannon loaded with sharp objects and broken sword blades. "Oh, crap!" Rez exclaimed. He could see the wide area that such a hazardous attack would effect and made a run for it, trying to lead Aleister's aim in Rez's advantage amidst the already cluttered scenery.

"Too late, boy!" Aleister called. The cannon fired and spread sharp metal shrapnel randomly in all directions. Rez grabbed his broadsword and swung just in time to defend most of himself, but still got scratched across the leg and pierced by a shard of metal in the shoulder. He winced and immediately pulled the shard out, letting himself bleed and feeling the heat of dysfunction grip over his injured arm. "Looks like it's a curtain call for you, my friend! Hahahaha!!!" While he was involved over his pun Zan shot up from the stage floor with both his blades wound back, prepared to strike at the charred and vulnerable spots of his back. Aleister turned himself full around and smashed his elbow into Zan's body. Unable to phase through it Zan took the blow and was thrown down onto the stage floor with a smash and tumble across the dented wood. He pressed himself up to see Aleister had an attack aimed his way as well, this one from what looked to be a cannon loaded to the brim with small pellets, and he grit his teeth.

The explosion speckled the stage floor with black marks of impact and a myriad of bullet holes. Zan stood bravely with his arms over his face, **his skin marked with burnt impacts and bleeding wounds made by the explosion of harsh powder and pellets. **He had missed his chance to defend himself from the hail and now stood, his teeth visibly grit in defiance and his body shaking.

_Damn_ Zan thought. _I wasn't fast enough. I wasn't aware enough. My better senses failed me for a moment and it cost me all this damage...._

"Looks like I have myself quite the situation here" Aleister said. "I can take my time to destroy either one of you first. The pompous young swordsman or you, the assassin who has been a heel to me for far too long....while apathy in an audience is at least tolerable to the true performer, I can never forgive you for disrupting and running my act. **I shall kill you, assassin!"** Zan froze up. He was still in too much pain to try and move, let alone try and use his power to escape. Aleister drew out yet another cannon, this one obviously loaded with a normal cannonball that would prove fatal at such a close range.

"Dammit!" Rez shouted. "No! Zan! Wait a sec I'll save you!!!" Rez moved forward as fast as he could and drew out his gunblades, hoping that he would have the accuracy and the time to fire a shot good enough to save Zan from being cannon fodder. Despite his Duelist Eyes working themselves to his own mental exhaustion, he could only see Aleister's invisible hand blocking his bullets and now point of impact that would reflect the force of a bullet and redirect its path in any way. He only saw Zan getting shot up close by a cannonball that extended from Aleister's gun-pointing finger. _Dammit! Crap dammit! DAMN! I can't do anything!!!_

Zan was prepared to die. He closed his eyes and let suffering come forth. Aleister was ready to kill, and in his eyes shone only that bright intent of murder. The audience closed their eyes rather than stand up to help, except Marco who only wondered why they _weren't _trying to help at all, and bemoaned his own forced seating with them in silence. Then a savior came forth. Bard pushed himself through the narrow opening of Aleister's thick finger and opened the portal in full for his body to come through. He held onto the end of the cannon that held that portal open long enough for him to fit through and aimed it with a heavy swing of his arm. Aleister's face didn't even have time to change as Bard aimed the cannon his way and the fuse burned itself down to its end.

"**SURPRISE!!!!!" **Bard roared. The cannon blasted and the shot exploded on Aleister's chin. He was toppled over with smoke and fire lingering in the air and his huge body fell off the edge of the stage. His eyes were white and embers burned in his thick, dark beard. His arms fell against the deck and his hands lost their portal abilities, turning back to flesh and matter once more as soon as he lost consciousness. Bard landed with a crash into the wooden floor of the stage and tossed the cannon barrel aside like a broken gun. Rez stopped in his rush and sheathed his gunblades with a sigh.

"Guess I shouldn't worry myself over nothing all the time" Rez said. "Bard's just got stupidly great timing..." Bard turned to Zan, who had fallen down, and walked over to him, completely confident not only in his own victory but in the life of his comrade. Bard leaned down and tapped Zan on the shoulder.

"You alright?" Bard asked. Zan turned his head and grinned as Bard rolled him over. "You're bleeding a lot, aren't you? You'll have to work harder on dodging stuff, right?"

"Ah, right" Zan said. "Say Bard, could you do me a favor and get me a smoke?"

"Why bother?" Bard said with a grin. "You're smoking already, aren't you? Hehehe!"

".......ah, you're funny Bard" Zan said. He closed his eyes and fell into a faint. Bard stood up and called for his crew to come at once. Half of them were already there. As he stood over the frighteningly dense battlefield across the huge area of the stage, and over the injured body of his comrade as he was picked up by his own crew to be treated down below deck, Bard couldn't help but grin.

"Greatest show I've ever seen" Bard said. Rez scoffed as he hobbled past him.

"Let's dump this ass overboard" Rez said, pointing down to Aleister's body. "While we can, why not make him disappear?"


	105. The Memories of Vega Void

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

In the end the Buster Pirates won and hoisted their trophy of Aleister's body up by thick cords of rope with his feet hanging in the air between the Grand Masts on the Main Deck. His hands were the most dangerous asset he had, and were caged with huge lobster cages for huge lobsters clamped around his sleeved wrists. Even if he could manage to somehow pull something out of the portal space in his hands, he couldn't easily use it. The traps were solid steel and nigh-unbreakable to the standards of either lobsters or gunfire. Such was the standard of Grand Line lobsters, to rend through most metal as easily and quickly as if it were wood.

"Good thing we had those, eh?" a pirate said, admiring the work.

"All's well, I suppose" Zan said. Rez hopped up onto the railing and sat beside him.

"Not really" Rez added. "For one thing, we just made another enemy, and a dangerous one at that, on this blasted sea. That power of his gives him a frightening advantage in any fight. Secondly, without him doing it, who's going to get all his crap off of our deck!?" Zan looked out. In reality the stage he had brought with him was just as large as it seemed, and only by the illusion of selective lighting and shadows did it appear any smaller than it actually was. It covered most of the Imperial Dragon's Main Deck, right up to the Grand Masts. The pirates had been seated farther back then they even realized and shaded by a much wider area then they remembered setting up. All a part of the greater mystery and illusion.

"His crew's all captured and tied up" Zan said. "The nurses are treating the wounded, and doing quite well I admit."

"They patched you up nice and fast" Rez observed. Zan's body was wrapped in bandages, almost covering him save for his face and pants. Zan grinned and groaned to sit upright.

"I'll be alright" Zan said. "I've survived worse."

"That's kinda disheartening" Rez admitted. "You know, you being an assassin and all." Zan just smirked and chuckled.

"Hey, Rez!" called Marco. Rez jumped down from the Upper Deck to the Main and confronted Marco. "Have you seen Bard?"

"Nope" Rez casually admitted. "Hey, by the way, you think we can get some fishing done around here? That is, does this look like a good area to fish? We still aren't moving, so-"

"Uh" Marco began, "Rez? We kinda need Bard right now." Rez glanced at him and sighed, finding it impossible after all to avoid the subject.

"Do I look like his keeper!?" Rez shouted. "That fool could be anywhere by now! You know how he is. Anyway, if your precious captain is so desperately needed, why don't you try looking for him?"

"We did" Marco said. "In fact, we seem to be missing not only him, but Araly and Gretta are gone as well."

"And wasn't there another Gretta?" another bulky pirate asked. "You know, that Void girl? We can't find her either. We sent some guys down to guard the infirmary, since that's the only other place we've got people right now, and those Paladins that are able to move around are searching for her." A stark silence came over Rez and Marco as, together, they slowly pieced things together. Rez suddenly ran to the port side of the deck and looked down into the water. Instantly, his rush of curiosity was replaced with a furious tension.

"We haven't moved, have we?" Rez asked. Marco joined him soon, leaned over the rail, and then immediately stepped back with a hand on his head. They stared down at the water, placid and calm, where a ship had been, and where one should _be_, but where there was nothing at all. "And if I remember correctly, wasn't she the _first mate?_"

"Uh...." Marco groaned. Rez took him by his collar and shook him with a face of demonic anger.

"**YOU WANNA TAKE A GUESS WHERE ALL FOUR OF THOSE GLORIOUS BASTARDS DISAPPEARED TO!!!???**" he roared with all his might.

"Ship on the horizon!" a pirate called. "Ah, wait no! It's _their_ ship, sailing _away! _AH! There's Captain Bard!!!" Rez turned furiously, threw Marco back and rushed to the pirate shouting at the bow of the ship. He shoved him to the side and peered through the spyglass he wielded to see, not surprisingly, a distant black dot running across the water chasing after a further away image of a ship. Rez crushed the spyglass in a fist and held his forehead with his palm.

"Why...." he asked with a low voice, shaking with a tearful rage, "....did nobody notice until now...?"

"We were busy tying up the whole crew" the pirate he had shoved admitted "and, honestly, I had forgotten about the girls during the whole battle. I was too focused on staying alive!"

"Up anchor!" Rez commanded, his face recovered from its sweeping depression. He turned and pointed to the wheel. "We're going after them! Full sail! On the goddamn double!!!"

"You heard the First Mate!" Zan called. "Follow that ship!" The crew reacted instantly and rushed around, prepping the ship for full sail despite the obvious obstruction in the path of the Grand Sail. They lowered it as much as they could and stopped it far enough above Aleister's head so as to not hit him or place their precious sail in a dangerous circumstance should he awake. The Wing Sails were lowered as well, and the low winds all caught into the massive sails of the ship and moved it, slowly, forward. The anchor was risen and the currents of water that led after the distant, small ship sailing away caught the massive bottom of the Imperial Dragon, and across the waves it began its crawl!

Rez took to the bow with a foot up on the elevated step of the sprint while Marco took to the wheel and Zan was left to rest his injured body in the light of the day. The sun was at an angle in the sky, as the time that had passed during the conflicts went unnoticed by the pirates, and clouds were moving in from all corners of the sky, giving the illusion that the patch of blue above them was the only place of such brightness under the vaulted heavens in the world, filling the pirates with an arcane and passive sense of pride and adventurous drive.

* * *

Meanwhile, out on the open ocean, running in a heated sprint...

"**UUUOOOOOHHHH!!!!!"** roared Bard, hyper in his rage as he chased down the ship that had departed during the battle. "You damn dirty piraaaates!!!" _Oh, wait, I guess I'm a pirate too, but I'm not one of _**_those_**_ pirates._ "**YOU DAMN CREW YOU!!! YOU'RE TERRIBLE PEOPLE! Er, PIRATES! DAMN YOOOOOU!!! I'll catch your ship and suplex it right to HELL!!!**" Bard ran for a bit before his brain moved again and reminded him of the hostages he was seeking to rescue and how poorly they would be able to swim through a ship he had successfully suplexed clear over his own back. "Uh, after I save Araly and Gretta! Yeah! Then, **SUUUPLEEEEX!!!!"** Despite his rambling roars, the ship sailed on with a dummy at the helm holding the wheel steadily in place. Vega Void was below the deck in hiding with her hostages, passive Gretta and extremely sick and hatefully angered at her captor and her role as a captive. Vega sat overlooking them in a dressing-room style of bedroom, her own personal space on the stage of a ship, polishing a rapier in front of a mirror.

"I have a question" Gretta began, "how can this ship operate properly with only you on board?"

"Only me?" Vega said. She turned in her seat and glared Gretta down, a spiteful glance she'd never received before and looked away from in apathy.

"Certainly" Gretta said "you don't expect me to work. I'm a princess. I haven't worked a day in my life. And her..." Gretta was obviously about to rail on Araly, but the girl in question loudly groaned and clutched her stomach, fighting back a flood of sickness from spewing out of her mouth. ".....hmm. Now I remember. You told me you were sea-sick, didn't you? It was so arbitrary I'd forgotten."

"What?" Araly groaned. "Why...how could you forget?"

"It didn't seem important to me at all" Gretta said with a shrug. Vega appeared with the tip of her sword at Gretta's throat. She looked down at it, still deep in apathy, and sighed.

"It's at least interesting" Gretta said "in that it's harder to fight with than a normal sword." Void pushed up on her and forced her against the wall she sat before.

"I won't stand" Vega snarled "to be made a mockery by that bastard anymore!" She drew away and straightened her voice back out into a calm yet oppressing demeanor. "That man is a heartless manipulator, that Altair. He formed this crew under a stolen flag after he acquired his powers on the eve of setting out into this ocean. He claims to be a man 'blessed by starlight', and that nothing can best him in this world because of his luck. I'd rather not stand around and watch and hope that his luck eventually runs out. With this chance, I'd rather just run and let him do as he may to your precious crew."

"You obviously don't know those pirates well" Gretta said. "They aren't the type to fight with luck alone. They're desperate, diligent, powerful and abusively hard-working all in the sake of becoming stronger as men individually. A single man can't just walk into a fray the likes that the Buster Pirates can stir up and part the winds. That man's more than likely dead by now, and because of your cowardice, you'll never get to see it. Zan most likely ordered him to be thrown into the ocean to end any threat of him becoming our long-standing enemy." Vega turned and slapped Gretta across the cheek, forcing her head to turn to the side.

"Don't dare insult your captor" Vega hissed. Gretta was speechless, for once. Her snide remarks and chiding skepticism had given way to terror and fear, for at the instant she was harmed she knew it could easily be repeated. Vega didn't _need_ her for anything, and she was the one in control of the ship's arms.

"Ugggghhhh" Araly groaned. "What insult?" she said, joining in on what she had heard. "Isn't it like a coward to run from a fight, even one she may end up winning at the expense of a few broken nails?"

"And what about you, then?" Vega said. She walked over and picked Araly up by her ponytail, forcing her to stand with a debilitating sickness flushing her face pale. "Where were you when the fight broke out, exactly? I managed to take you both from the confusion after all your comrades ran into battle, and left you alone and defenseless. What kind of faith can you have in such men, who lie and deceive, and use you as a stepping stone to their own fortune!?"

"......you really don't know them well" Araly said. Vega drew back a hand to force Araly into submission with a slap. Gretta recovered and stood up, prepared to help, as Vega's arm moved through the air. Then it stopped, short of Araly's face, as the seasick girl brought up an arm on instinct to block it. She grinned and looked up through the shade of her brow at Vega's tense face. "**We'll fight until there's nobody left! That's who we are! It's what we do!**" Araly grabbed Vega's arm and pulled her forward. She tilted forward her head and smashed Vega's nose against it, then pushed her away and to the floor while she slumped against the wall and slowly sank down with a sick groan. Vega grabbed her injured nose while Gretta stood over her.

"She's right, you know" Gretta said. "They're all a bunch of animals on that ship." Vega swung an arm at Gretta's legs to distract her as she retreated. She stood back up and took her rapier out. Her face was tense with rage and she held her nose tight, praying it wasn't broken.

"You bitch...." Vega lowed. "The both of you, who do you think you are!?"

"That's a fine question" Gretta said. "The bigger question is, just who are _you_? We can certainly defend ourselves, but you can't change the facts. You _ran_ from that fight and took us with you only for insurance. I'm not one to say for sure, as I've only been out to sea for these few meager days in my life, but is that really what a pirate should do?"

"......" Vega was silent. She lowered her rapier and backed against the door. Tears were starting to form and gave her eyes a rippling wetness. She lowered her head, her lips quivering, and rose up with a stoic expression and tears unfought on her face to meet Gretta's gaze. She looked down, at a narrow change of height, at her reflection in more regal costume. She, herself, still wore the fabric that tied her to her captain as an 'assistant' while Gretta's regal aura exuded even stronger with the clothes she wore. With her envy as the final push, Vega sighed and spoke openly. "You and I, I can tell, are a special kind of people. Not just our skin, our hair, and our rose-red eyes, but something about us seems to echo to all others that we are defenseless."

"....hmm?" Gretta hummed.

"I wish to tell you" Vega said "just how the Top Hat Pirates formed under Aleister Altair, for I was there when it all occurred..." Vega's mind drifted back to that moment of time, when she was younger, before her life became a nefarious race from port to port and ship to ship, a challenge to stay alive and hidden long enough in the mystical shadow of Aleister Altair as he led his band to shallow glory across the Grand Line....

* * *

"Come one and all!!!" shouted the boisterous voice of an entertainer. A thick-bearded man with a huge body and short legs stood behind a podium built to his size on an elevated stage drawn from behind and the sides with grand, velvet curtains. "Come and witness the talent and magical display of Aleister Altair!!!" A crowd had gathered in the square where this man had assembled. In Lougetown, city of beginnings and endings, such a gallant display for citizens was uncommon. It was primarily a haven for the foolhardy to take their final rest before traveling north to the Reverse Mountain and the graveyard of pirates, the Grand Line. Those who lived there in peace couldn't help but be amazed when something unexpected would happen, and gathered to watch Aleister's show without hesitation.

He took a cloth, or so it seemed at first, and tucked it into his tightly balled fist. Then, extending his arm out into the audience, lowered it to the face of a young woman and opened it up to release a cluster of pure white doves into the air. She, and the whole gathered audience, applauded loudly and threw him tips of coins and cash. Aleister's show continued as he took, from his top hat, an immense bouquet of flowers that he tossed into the air. Instantly, it exploded into multiple bouquets with a puff of pink smoke and fell into the hands of maidens reaching out. Aleister performed a trick for the men as well, an illusion of sorts where he took a donkey onto the stage and then, under the veil of a thin cloth, instantly transformed it into a beautiful and busty lady that all the men hollered and whistled at.

Only one girl observing, with her guardians at either side, remained unamused. She had her silken, curly white hair tied back behind her head and draped over her face in two curly clustered bangs. This young girl was Vega Void, standing with a man and woman, neither of them reflecting her fairest features or physical traits. Two people who were not her parents that treated her thus with unrequited parental duty and caring. Vega, abandoned in Lougetown as an infant, was their adopted daughter.

"Isn't this amazing, Vega?" her foster mother asked. Vega stared straight ahead at the posing girl on stage.

"She was there the whole time" Vega said. "The donkey is backstage."

"Eh?" her mother said. Vega turned and saw two men in dark suits escorting the donkey off stage and to a shady character in an alley.

"See?" Vega said, pointing at the trick's inconsistent reveal. "That's what-"

"You're amazing, Aleister!" her mother cheered.

"Do another trick!" her father screamed. He took a fistful of coins and tossed them on stage. Aleister took off his hat and was able to catch all the money thrown his way out of the air by simply flicking his hat around with the swift movements of his fingers. Vega sighed and remained unimpressed, alone in her feelings and unnatural contempt. The show finally ended and the citizens departed, all of them in a lifted mood but Vega, who was just as skeptical and apathetic leaving as she was when she arrived to watch. Aleister and his assistants were busy taking down the stage they had quickly erected, all of them dressed as best as poor men could be, in matching suits that were wrinkled from overuse and noticeably dirty. Vega and her parents left together, but Vega soon returned just as Aleister bid a farewell to an admirer with much of his stage packed together and strapped onto his back.

"Is it fun?" Vega asked. Aleister turned in place to her and blinked curiously. "Is it fun for you to travel everywhere, even though there are pirates running around on the sea?" Aleister chuckled and stepped forward to Vega, keeping his distance respectable.

"But of course!" Aleister said. "Why, even pirates sometimes need to see a good show to bring about an easy mood! They're no different than other people, just a bit harder to find in any given spot! Have you ever thought about setting out to sea, miss?"

"Of course not" Vega answered flatly. "If I had to get defiled by some villainous mongrel of a man I'd rather have it done here, where somebody could at least hunt him down for me, and not in the open and uncaring ocean."

"The heart of adventure is in everyone" Aleister said. "It's that heart that guided me all the way out here from my origin in the South Blue!" Aleister turned and extended his arm up to the pillar, the preserved execution stand of the late Pirate King, which stood tall still in the central square of Lougetown, no great oppressor for those who lived in its shadow an neither a gleaming bastion of revelry and pirating to those who wandered to it from the stretching blue ocean. It was simply there to Vega, and to Aleister he knew what it was and what it's significance was, but it failed to move him anymore than it did to help register his point. "That tower there is a proud symbol to those who live following their hearts to adventure. But to others, like yourself, it only stands for the crimes those people's hearts commit. Is that not right?"

"It's an eyesore" Vega said. "If you want me to believe in you at all, I'd like to see you make it disappear."

"Hahaha!" Aleister laughed. "What a spry and dry wit you have! Not one to care for the thoughts of others, are you?" Vega looked away.

"No use in it" she said. "By the way, what did you do with that donkey you stole?" Aleister gazed down at her, and his grin widened without dropping the snarl he built up.

"Why we have stolen nothing" he attested. "You shouldn't be so quick to judge others, young miss!" With that Aleister left, walking down the street with heavy steps of his feet as he carried the weight of lumber plus his own enormous body. Vega looked after him as he went and left for home. In the street she saw Marines mobilizing rapidly for a destination, but brushed their presence away as unimportant. She eventually returned home and retired to her own room, a girlish den laden with all sorts of stuffed animal creatures, modeled after things from far away lands she'd never seen, dressed all up in bright pink and glimmering crystals and precious metals mounted on stands for her to display freely. She went to her bed and tossed and turned impatiently for a while, until the rain started to pour.

She sat at the edge of her bed and stared out the window, watching the rain distort the clear visage that her window held, and saw the shadows of buildings and alleys as the lightning flashed. She didn't let a single thing drift into her mind as she watched the rain. Her eyes were set in a diligent gaze ahead, over the house roofs and into the distance of the city still yet blocked by the taller rooftops of houses and other buildings. Just as the calm darkness of the rainy evening sky began to take a hold of her energy and bring to her a dazed sleepiness, an orange glow and muted boom suddenly woke her up and stirred up her eyes. Off in the distance, some few blocks away, there was a fire, but the erratic nature of its glow, sparking up and dying down so quickly, suggested to her that it was no ordinary fire. It was a fight. Compelled to take flight, Vega dressed herself in a slick rain coat and ran out into the streets, a shining phantom of purest white running through the darkness, destination fixed on that distant glow....

* * *

In a bar of Lougetown, a discrete little speakeasy for pirates in the basement of a reformed criminal's house, a very indeiscrete war was brewing. Two bands of villains fought each other, one of pirates and the other of men dressed in formal suits with top hats, led by their big-bodied Aleister Altair, who held in one hand a treasure chest.

"You bastard!" the leading man of the opposing crew shouted. He was a swarthy man, and a thick-bodied one at that with a rounded gut and arms. He led a brigade of men dressed poorly at best, all wearing a tattered coat or cloak and patchwork pants with a ratty top-hat fixed to each head. "You give us back our treasure, or so help me-"

"Your treasure?" Aleister said. He tilted his head back and chuckled at the man. He passed a hand over the chest, then threw a cloth over it, and then pressed down and held the cloth tight between his palms. Then he revealed that the chest was gone and took away the cloth with a swing in the air. "Ta-dah! What chest, may I ask?"

"You....rat!" the man shouted. "Kill these louts! Show them the might of the Top Hat Ruffians!" His band of criminals charged and fought against their formal reflections. Aleister's handymen fought the brigands off, his assistants all taking up arms, including the lovely woman with scant, wet clothing distracting the enemies as she wielded guns against them. Soon only their leader was left and he faced down Aleister personally. "You son of a bitch! I'll burn you down with his ratty place!" He pulled out three bottles of liquor from his pockets, held them each by the neck between his fingers and took all the corks out at once with his teeth. He threw the bottles at Aleister and soaked his neat dress tuxedo with the heavy stench of alcohol. Then the man took out a strange, wide-barrel pistol and aimed while leaning away from it. "Take this! **My Flare Gun!**" He fired a flickering bullet that whizzed forward with a trail of smoke and ignited Aleister into a giant ball of flames.

"GAAAAAHHHH!!!" he shouted in pain.

"Oh no! Captain Altair!" one of the stagehand men shouted. Aleister's shadow remained in the flames, scowling in pain, slowly consumed by the burning might.

"Ha!" the ratty leader exclaimed. "That should teach you not to mess with me! Even the Marines run when they see the signals I shoot into the sky! You'd better wisen up in the afterlife, punk!"

"Why, that's a nice trick, isn't it?" Aleister said. The man stood in a still shock. His gun slipped from his hand as a nervous sweat built and he slowly turned. There sat Aleister, perfectly fine, sans his black coat with the treasure chest he had stolen balanced on one finger. He was looking down with narrow eyes and upturned eyebrows with an arrogant smile on his face.

"Brilliantly done, captain!" one from his crew cheered. "Your illusions are second to none!"

"Swapping your coat onto a stack of barrels at the last second" the beautiful girl said. "My, aren't you the clever one."

"Ahahahaha!" Aleister laughed. "It's nothing, nothing at all! Simple illusions, simple! Simple!"

"Grrrr!" the bandit lowed. "Who cares! **Let's see you illusion **_**this**_**, you damned bastard!!!**" Aleister saw him grab his gun and took up his own. From out of his sleeve he pulled a gun the size of a small cannon and aimed it at the man's face. He stared down a barrel wide enough for his own head to fit in and saw the heavy lead bullet stuffed into the chamber. He dropped his flare gun immediately and fell to his knees. Aleister opened the chest and looked at its contents, a magnificent treasure that brought an ecstatic glint to his sadistic grin at once.

"What a glorious item you have found" he said as he eyed the marvel. Resting against many layers of cushion was but a single fruit, an oversized cherry with a curly stem and spiral spiral pattern marks covering its skin. "What fruit is this, pray tell? Did you bother to research that before you decided to set up this turgid meeting? Or perhaps, after getting your money, you would simply ingest it yourself and use its powers agaisnt the buyer? Thank goodness I had the mind to kill them before they could arrive and come in their place, eh!?"

"What?" the man said. "Kill? You? You killed....those men? The Top Hat Pirates!?"

"If there is anyone deserving of that name" Aleister said "it must be **me!** Now tell me, kind rodent, what is this fruit that I have claimed?"

"Y-y-you can't!" he said. Aleister drew back the hammer of the pistol and aimed the weapon closer as a threat. He could see, over the barrel of the cannon, the serious glare and sadistic murderous intent in Aleister's eyes. He flinched and began chattering his teeth together in fear. "I-I-I-I-I don't know! I don't know, Idon'tknow IDUNNOOO!!!! I just told him I had a Devil Fruit and if he wanted it before I sold it off to someone else he had to meet me tonight. I didn't think, I couldn't image that that man would be able to die so soon!"

"All men die" Aleister said. "It is in life when we must claim everything that we can. So, you claim that you truly know nothing about this fruit?"

"I swear, I don't!" the man pleaded.

"And now that there is no more deal for you to benefit from" Aleister said "this fruit is no longer of your concern?"

"That's right, take it, please! Don't kill meee!!!" he shouted. Aleister's grin reached its fullest, spanning across his thick beard and up to his thick cheek bones.

"**Then why leave you alive?"** he said. The man's eyes filled with tears of terror in an instant.

At that time, someone was already watching. From outside, following the heart of adventure that beat within her, Vega Void watched from the window of the cellar and was the closest to the horrible bang. Her mind blanked again, and all she could see was the running that blurred the window she watched through, and all she could hear past the rain was the muted laughter of the mad and powerful man as he took the cherry and ate it with a cringe. Then his pistol vanished and sank into nothingness as his hands disappeared and were replaced by two colorless, transparent voids of space. The building continued to burn from the side exposed to the street, the origin of the fire, and the alcohol within continued to ignite, the origin of explosions. All of that she ignored to follow a greater curiosity...

A curiosity that scarred her for life...

To be continued....


	106. The Resolve to Live One's Life

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Marching haughtily through the stormy streets of Lougetown, Aleister Altair and his crew passed by many houses with shutters drawn and Marines mobilizing past them.

"What do you know of the fire?" a Marine asked, stopping the troupe.

"Hmm?" Aleister said. "There's a fire? Goodness, where?"

"Nevermind" the Marine said as he rushed on. Aleister hid his grin in his big, bushy beard and turned back away.

"To the dock, men!" he declared. "We're ready. Let's leave this pathetic sea for good and head to the Grand Line! The greatest show for us to perform is still somewhere out there, on the world's greatest ocean!!!"

"Whooooo!!!" cheered his crew. Everything had gone perfectly, aside from one unknown detail. The curious stalker, a girl draped in a dark and dreary raincoat with fair white skin and hair, following the band of men and women all the way from the scene of the incident currently stirring up a huge panic in town. She held herself to keep warm, and to calm her nerves. She'd just seen someone die, and now she was blindly wandering right after the murderers themselves. Nobody running in the street bothered to stop her. She was just a girl going away from the fire to them, not that there weren't other people on the street as well. Vega just wandered all the way to the dock and was awoken by a sudden flash of lightning that was blocked by some unknown, dark shadow cast across her body. She looked up and saw the grinning mouth of a large-bodied man with a jutted lower jaw and big, thick teeth sticking up from it. Vega took a step back and turned, as if to walk away, but found herself surrounded by yet more detestable-looking men in coats.

"Well well!" the great-sized man said. He stepped forward, shaking the ground, and stunning Vega in a fearful stall. "Look at this, my friends! We've got quite the beauty wandering around in the middle of a storm!"

"It's dangerous out here, you know" another man said, leaning in and scaring her. "You know, you should always travel with a man you trust, little girl! Or else some big monster might come up out of the sea and swallow you whole!" Another man, this one with the same hippo-like face as the huge man blocking Vega's path, leaned in close and laughed dumbly at her.

"Yeah!" he said. "Hey, you wanna hold my hands, miss?" The group laughed coarsely at her. Their leering, perverted presence made Vega speechless with fear. Suddenly her coat was grabbed from behind and she was pulled back into some ugly man's arms.

"Come on! Get it off!" one of the men shouted.

"Hey now!" the huge hippo-man shouted. "Treat her a little more delicately. It's _my_ job to break her in before we sell her off as a slave!" The group chuckled lewdly. Vega wasn't so dim that she didn't know what was going on. She kicked and struggled herself free and started to run away, but was caught by her flowing, wet hair by the thick hand of the huge, hippo-man. She screamed and struggle further, hitting his fingers as he pulled her slowly forward, then he held her up to his eyes level by her hair. She held onto his fingers and kicked her feet that had left the ground, face-to-face with the ugliest man she'd ever seen. He stretched his grin across his big, thick cheeks and wiggled his ears at her.

"**AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!**" Vega cried.

"Go ahead and shout, then!" said the hippo-man. "All the Marines are searching for the pirate scum that started that fire earlier. They don't care what some petty thugs like us do. That's why we're still around! We masquerade as nothing but common thieves, but really, we're part of a slave cartel! We kidnap cute girls like you and sell them to the highest bidders from all the oceans!"

"Um, boss?" one of the men began. "Why are you telling her this, exactly?"

"I ain't talking to her!" the hippo-man growled. "I'm saying it for your benefit!"

"But we all already know what we do" another man said. "What you're doing is just redundant." From behind that man something moved. In a strike of lightning the flash of pure white and black glared out, then vanished back into the shadows, just as the man who spoke up turned around to inspect it.

"You shut up!" the hippo-man bellowed. He turned back to Vega with the most perverse of smiles and brought up his other hand to stroke her chin. "I've never seen a girl this cute before! It's almost like some kind unnatural occurrence. How'd you get your hair so white? You look so young, but you must actually be really old, right? Even so, you'll do very well on our cartel!"

"Pardon me" a man said from behind. "Mind sparing me a hand?" The hippo-man turned around, swinging his arm to sucker-strike whoever stood behind him, and his hand **vanished into thin air.** "Ah! I'm sorry, looks like it's _you_ who needs a spare hand! AHAHAHA!!!" Vega was dropped as the man stared at his stump of an arm and screamed.

"UWAAAHH!!! MY HAND! It doesn't feel like it's been cut off, but where'd it go!?"

"Boss!" one of the other crude bandits called. His next sound was a death grunt, the sound a man makes when he realizes he's been stabbed in the back. The man next to him repeated it and fell down. Suddenly all the scenery around them, the cobblestone road on which they stood and the boxes nearby, all was cast away as cleverly placed colored clothes to hide the lurkers underneath them. The Top Hat Pirates sprang out and silently killed all of the bandits in one fell, instant action.

"You son of a bitch!" yelled the hippo-man. "Where do you get off!? Are you trying to be clever or something!? Being a pirate in this town is a death-sentance!!!" Aleister's grin did not drop. Instead, he brought the voided space of his hands up and slowly pressed forward, swallowing the hippo-man's thick arm into his portal space. The man stood in terrible, frightened awe and simply watched as he was slowly devoured by Aleister's magic hands. Aleister suddenly clapped his hands together and the man vanished between them. He rubbed them together, clapped twice and grinned.

"**Ala-Bala-Carda-KALAAA!!!!"** He parted his hands, and the man was gone, vanished into the space he held in either palm. Vega saw it all, the silent deaths of all the evil bandits by the sinister, white-masked men in formal black suits and the apparent death-by-obliteration of that ugly, heavy man. "You heart can lead...to all sorts of amazing places!" Aleister said, catching Vega's attention. She looked up and saw nothing coming at her, but she could feel the tension and pressure. She could feel the fear of being swallowed, and the next thing she knew she was floating freely in that colorful void where nothing existed. That man just swallowed was already so much farther away and unconscious. Vega watched him fall into an infinite pit of nothingness, never to be seen again, over what seemed like a lifetime of floating and praying that she would get to live. So she prayed, and hoped to see the light again.....

* * *

In her praying, Vega lost consciousness and awoke some time later with her arms and legs bound together. She was held captive now in the corner of the women's dressing quarter, which was currently empty. Her mouth wasn't bound, but it was dry and it hurt. She struggled her way up to her feet and hopped across the wood floor to a mirror mounted on the wall. On first glance she seemed fine. Her skin was white, as was her hair, and her eyes were red. She remained fully clothed in the white nightdress she had left home in and there was no visible trace of any wounds on her. She turned her head just to make sure, but found no marks or cuts or brands at all. She hopped back over to a bed and wormed her way into it, covering herself by clutching the blanket with her toes and lifting it up over her chest by bending her knees up. After a bit of struggle and moving, she was resting comfortably.

"So this is being captive?" Vega said. "They must not be doing it right. From all the terrible stories I've heard, I should have been abused or bound up a little tighter, or at the very least held in a small space that's locked from the outside...." Vega opened her eyes at realizing her conditions and got out of bed. She walked over to the door and checked to see if it was actually locked from the outside, but it wasn't. She opened it and peaked out into the hallway interior of a ship in motion. She shut the door, found a lock near the latch and quickly bolted it shut, just then realizing that **she was no longer bound up at all!** She looked at her rope-marked wrists in surprise and lifted each leg up to inspect them separately.

_How did that happen!?_ She wondered, resolving to stay as quiet as she could. She went back to the bed and found the ropes undone under the covers. She inspected them and found that they weren't even tied, they were just single bits of rope that had been coiled around and tightened to seem like many rings of rope at once. Vega picked the ropes up and dropped them at the side of her bed. She crawled back in and tried to rest, not letting herself get too overwhelmed at the sudden shift in her circumstances.

_What should I do if I'm found out? I've seen what they can do. For all I know, someone could already be in this room, hiding, waiting to tie me up the second I go back to sleep...._ Vega was suddenly wide awake and stood up from her bed. She looked around with a start and made her way into the corner of the room, holding her back strong against it and testing it by knocking around at a hip-high level, quite hard. She looked at the beds, rowed up against the wall across from the door. There were enough mirrors on the wall for each bed to have its own and several chests at the far end of the room with keys in them. The wall she was against also had a few trunks, but there was a space big enough for her to stand in between the chests and the wall.

"I know someone is in here!" Vega shouted, giving up on her stealth. She suddenly became focused on one specific bed, the one two beds over from the one she had rested on. "You're under a bed! The fourth from this side of the room! Fourth from the left!" Vega waited a moment before calming her breath again, and waited for a response. She was positive, unequivocally, that there was someone in the room, and all her better instincts told her that that was where they were.

_Am I just paranoid?_ She wondered. _I must be. These people, whoever they are, if they wanted to kill me they would have. Still.....what happened that I came here in the first place? All I remember was....that terrible void I was swallowed into. That horrible space. So empty and wide. And what about that ugly, fat man? Is he dead?_ Suddenly, something tapped on the floor some distance away. Vega saw a hand crawling out from under the exact bed she had called for. The arm pulled along and a man with slicked-back hair and a white mask with black pants and a white shirt stepped up onto the floor from under the bed.

"Nice one" he said. "Seems you saw straight through my trick. You even managed to untie yourself from the subconscious knot I tied. It's impossible to undo by yourself if your consciously trying, that's what makes it so hard. The more you struggle against it, the more impossible it is." Vega had just recovered her senses when he finished talking. Seeing a man come from under a bed she randomly deduced him to be under was more of a shock to her than she thought it would have been.

"Where am I?" she asked.

"Within the ship of the Top Hat Traveling Magician Troupe" the man said "currently sailing on the grandest of seas, the Grand Line!" Vega lost it. She fell forward on her knees and then forward yet again, but caught herself with her arms before hitting the floor. It had just suddenly hit her that she was now in the 'pirate's graveyard', the place she'd always heard about and dreaded. Not only that, but she was alone on the ocean and forced into the crew of cold-blooded killers who masqueraded as traveling entertainers, and for how long she didn't know. It's possible that the day she met them and saw their show there were already people being killed far behind the scenes.

The tension and broken nerves overwhelmed Vega for a moment and she succumbed to a certain nervous sickness, vomiting right there, and then she began to weep.

"No!" she said. "No! I don't want this! I....take me back! I don't want this to happen to me!!"

"Hmm" the man said with an honest shrug of his arms. "Nothing to do about that. Once you're on the Grand Line, you pretty much _have_ to stay until you either get to the New World or....die. We're setting our sights as far as possible in that regard. What about you?" Vega held her hands to her eyes and openly let her tears stream down her face while holding her lips together and forcing her eyes to shut tight. "Where will you go now that you're here?" The man left after that. Vega stood up and staggered over to the bed. She fell down into it and began crying, finally weak and alone enough to let herself be overwhelmed by her emotions. She held the pillow tight against her face and screamed out loud.

Up above the room, the mighty captain stood overlooking his ship, and from a nearby trap door the man that had been sent to watch over the hostage came up and gave a gallant bow. "Sir" he began, "it seems she's awake. You were right in being on guard about her, of course."

"Hahaha!" Aleister laughed. "She's a bright star of a child, isn't she? She'll make an excellent addition to my crew. The only child who bothered to see through my act...I'll make good use of her!"

"Captain!" another suited man called, this one descending on a rope counter-weighed with a sandbag from the crow's nest. "Enemy ship spotted nearby! What are your orders?"

"Raise the flag!" Aleister said. "For now, I do not feel like entertaining. No, now I seek entertainment for myself and my crew! Men!** We fight, as true pirates!! Let my hands push through the waves and clear us a path to our wildest dreams!!!**" His crew cheered loudly for him, and the noise of their warcrying reached down to the lower deck. Vega laid with her body curled up and her hands on her ears, refusing to hear it at all. She imagined that she was still at home in her bed, and that anytime her mother would come wake her up, and she would see herself in this mother. A beautiful woman with fair skin and white hair and red eyes, just like her, who loved her and protected her.....

But she also knew, the bright young woman she was, that those days of dreaming were now gone. She bit her lip until it hurt and a thin line of blood leaked out over her chin, all the time wishing away and denying the truth of reality only to have it forced back on her. She was lost now, past the point of return but not without her fleeting hopes of peace....Surely that would never change for her.....

* * *

The moment the battle began, Vega was knocked off her bed by a violent rocking of the ship. Cannon-fire was exchanged. No attempts to trick or stupify the enemy had been made. It was an all-out attack, the first encounter of the Top Hat Pirates on the Grand Line, tied in combat with an obscure group of ragtag bandits on a small Marine boat. A bunch of nobodies who had somehow found their way through the currents and into the most treacherous sea ever, against the man with magic hands. Vega curled up on the floor, still adamant of remaining away from any distress, but the sounds of fighting and war came closer and closer.

Something pounded at the door. Vega hid under a bed and accidentally tripped the latch for a trap door to fall. She held on to the floor, refusing to drop into an unknown depth that was suddenly under her, and saw from past the bedsheets two men struggling after the door was opened. One of the men, in black pants, threw the other to the floor, but he was pulled down as well and stabbed through the chest with a dagger. His mask fell off and he was tossed away as the man who killed him stole his saber and ran back out to rejoin the battle. Vega could see, by his hair and his build from that angle, that he was the man she had met minutes earlier. Now he was laying and drawing his final breaths as blood leaked out from his chest.

She came out of hiding and came to his side, finding him roguishly handsome. "Ahhh" he groaned, "there you are. I wanted to see if you were still safe. It's a war out there..."

"You're dying" Vega said. She looked up and down his body, then shrank away and held her hands up to her mouth. "I'm scared.....I'm so scared!"

"That's normal" the man said. "It's a good thing to feel fear. It means you still have....some common sense...." The man's eyes became empty and lifeless. He was dead. Now Vega, an otherwise sheltered and intelligent girl, had witnessed the second death so close to her, but this time she felt not a distant revilement but a deep, hollow fear. She knew this man, though not well, and in the end he tried to comfort her just before he died. Vega began to cry again, silently at first, but soon her voice cooed with mournful, soft sobs and she could not hold back her tears.

Up top, the Top Hat Pirates were just coming to terms with the battle they were already losing. The other ship was too well armed and the pirates on it were too barbarous to allow any quarter for the new captain to make use of. Aleister's men suffered in defeat, but Aleister himself did well. He took his huge hands to the pirates that invaded his ship, those that came straight at him, and swallowed them up in his deep void. Then, winding his arm back, he tossed them out and off the ship, right into the water or into the cannons of their own ship. At one toss a pirate was thrown into the porthole where a cannon was loaded and ready to fire. His body knocked the cannon away and it rolled back, lowering down and blasting a ball through the floor.

"Ahahaha!" Aleister triumphantly laughed. "That will teach you, hopefully, not to try and conquer me!"

"Sir!" a frantic Top Hat fighter called. "We're getting beaten! They've already boarded the ship and tore through the galley! I saw a group of them heading down to the women's quarters!"

"Damn" Aleister cursed. "I can't fit in there. I'm far too large of a man! Send in a small team to take care of the stragglers. I'm about prepared to finish off this silly fight and destroy their ship!" Aleister clapped his hands together and drew out a long, sharp saber as they parted, one fitting his massive stature as a man, that he held in his invisible hand so the handle was visible past the warped form wrapped around it. He charged with a leap, bounding clear over the boarding planks, and rocked the ship when he landed on it. "Is there any man worth facing here!?"

"I am!" growled a man. His back, chest, arms and abs were huge and perfectly carved in muscular form. He held over his immense shoulders a steel bar which he took in the palm of both hands and began to bend against his mighty, thick neck. He strained all he could and bent the solid steel into a U shape, which he then wound back and prepared to throw. "I challenge you!" he shouted.

"Very well!!!" Aleister replied. The man threw his weapon and Aleister caught it, letting it slide into both of his hands and following its form to a clap. And it was gone. The heavy man that threw it stumbled on his legs and fell to his knees in utter confusion, an opportunity that Aleister took charge of by taking up his sword and coming forth with a malicious intent in his eyes....

Vega, meanwhile, was confronted with yet another dilemma. She had found, hidden in the man's shirt, a dagger. She unsheathed it and held it for a moment, the ship still jarred and shaken by the constant motions of fighting. Men continued to charge, and others went after them, all swinging swords or holding guns. The Top Hat magicians drew pistols from their sleeves and surprised the charging enemies with them. Others took of their hats and threw burning powder at the invading pirates that ignited into an explosion that consumed everything the powder touched the moment the heat of a bullet hit.

The enemies overwhelmed the Top Hats in sheer number and force, however. Bodies were strewn all over the deck, most of the bleeding and many of them in fine suits. Vega stepped out into this chaos with her mind utterly blank and a dagger in her hand.

_My fate_ Vega thought _it's been stolen from me now. Whatever I do, I know I'll end up dying. I can feel it...see it. Death is everywhere now. I feel like I know true terror now....but I'm not amused yet._ Vega saw a man, a man wearing clothes not suited for the crew that had taken her, with two pistols wielded and a sword in his mouth. He threw the pistols, took the sword into his hand and stabbed two men at either side of him before they got a chance to try and attack. He then pulled out another long saber and looked around, growling with a red bandana on his head. _Maybe I feel indifferent to this disaster because....it has nothing to do with me._ That man began to back away. He saw too many men to fight alone coming at him, and his crew was far off on his boat fighting the man with the magic hands.

_If I want to feel anything here_ Vega thought _then I must make myself an active member of this world! I know who I am. My life was pointless before. My parents weren't my real parents, and the life we lived wasn't the one I was born for. There was something better for me and I missed it. My real mother....whoever she was, she didn't give me up because she didn't care. I can feel it. She wanted me to know....**what my fate is. **_

When Vega opened her eyes, and her mind quieted, she could hear the painful groaning of a man and the drops of blood, all in the silence of the ocean. She looked up and saw the dagger in her hand sunken into the man's back. His swords dropped, he stepped forward two half-staggering steps and fell to his knees.

"My fate" Vega said "is mine." She kicked the man down and let him die as he hit the ground. His eyes were empty when she saw them and his mouth agape, but there was nothing about him that she felt attached to. Instead she looked at the dagger in her hand very carefully. On it was engraved a word that the blood had obscured. She wiped it away on the front of her dress and saw that it read 'LIFE'.

_I will live it here_ Vega thought. _It is my life now.....I was born to live my life...._

"Bravo!" a Top Hat shouted. Vega was snapped to attention by the applause and cheering of the rest of the crew. The men all lined up, their battle finally won, clapping for the young Vega's first ever act of murder. She felt torn initially over whether it was really something to be celebrated, but she sheathed the dagger and tucked it into the strap of her shoulder, giving a polite and courteous curtsy with a timid smile. One man parted the crowd, a great-sized man he was, moving his arms as if clapping but producing no sound.

"Well done!" Aleister said, his beard messed and a scar on his face still bleeding from the fighting he'd just finished. "Splendid, splendid! Bravisimo! Wonderful show!" He stopped and crouched down, picking up the body with his invisible hand and tossing it to the side. "You're a natural for finding your way around, aren't you?"

"If I refused to live my life" Vega said "my mother would surely look down on me and weep."

"Well said!" Aleister said. "You know, you haven't been too far from my mind since we met during our last performance. No one has ever had the insight, let alone the tenacity, to see through my illusions as I perform them."

"You must pull a lot of stupid crowds" Vega said. The crew thought that was it for her, knowing full well the consequences of insulting the maestro himself, but their fears were unrequitted. Aleister laughed.

"Ahahaha! Tenacity is too tame a word for you, my dear. You have sheer, willful **GUTS!!!**" Aleister stood up, still brightly smiling, and crossed his arms, the fabric and the substance slowly disappearing as his hands swept across his body. "I'd like to offer you this: Join my crew as my Prima Donna Assistant!"

"I seem to have no choice" Vega said "unless you would otherwise let me take that boat you've conquered back to the East Blue myself..." Vega looked over at the other side of the boat and noticed that nothing was there. The boat was gone, the whole damn thing. "......I will" Vega said. Aleister extended his arms out as they suddenly appeared from thin air out of his portal hands.

"Wonderfully splendid!" he exclaimed. "Then, to celebrate our first victory, we must find an island and fest until we cannot move! Everyone to your stations! Ensign, get us a post! Doctors, nurses, deliver the bodies back to the brink and treat the wounded! Give the dead their rights and cast them off honorably."

"The dead...." Vega said softly. She held her hand to the dagger at her chest and remember his face. _The dead....they have no life to live. For his sake, and for the sake of everyone who might die, I shall live my life on my own. With these men or without, I have to live..._

And so the resolve was set. Vega's pact to the heavens was made. Her career of villainy as the Prima Donna Assistant to the magical Aleister Altair continued up until the fateful day from which she reminisced, the day they met the "most powerful pirates on the sea"....


	107. The End of the Magic

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

With her tale over and the mood set to a very dramatic tension, Vega fell silent and cast her eyes down at the floor. Araly had listened in from her sick corner and felt a strain of sympathy in her chest over her story, but Gretta had no expression to show. She was just staring ahead, absorbing the information and organizing it in her head.

"That's not all so bad" Gretta said.

"What!?" Vega exclaimed. "I-you-what are you-**what are you TALKING about!?**" Vega Void's calm composure had broken for just a moment as she shouted the princess out. Gretta just sat passively with her eyes aimed at her.

"You were abducted and swore yourself in to a life with people you barely knew" Gretta said. "I did the exact same thing. The only difference is that I haven't killed anyone yet, nor do I need to to prove my loyalty to my new family. And I don't hate them. At the moment, I don't really have much of a high opinion of them."

_Way to represent the crew, Gretta_ Araly thought. She burped sickly and tried to begin as well.

"The same...happened to me...almost" Araly said. "I accidentally got swept up in all this...and by the time it was too late to turn back, I had already accepted myself as a pirate."

"How coincidental that all three of us would be in a room together" Gretta said "on such a notoriously fateless sea. All three of us were thrown a fate we didn't like and came to live it well. The only common difference between us is time within that life. You've been living it long enough to know your place, whereas she and I are still trying to find a good place to be in it."

"Oh?" Vega said, regaining the spotlight of the room. "You think you know it all, don't you?"

"Sometimes" Gretta answered.

"This life is a curse!" Vega said. "Especially for people like me, who never had any intention to adventure, or any want to be great or well-known! I was happy being where I was, but I forced myself to accept what I was thrown into so that I could just live, day-to-day, without a constant fear ruling my life!"

"I was happy being a princess" Gretta said "but I'm glad I'm not anymore. It's much more interesting for me to see the world."

"I'd be happier" Araly said "if we didn't have to be on boats. If we could just be on islands all the time, I think I'd be really happy." Vega looked between them, back and forth, feeling overwhelmed with opposing opinions. She backed her way to the door and glared Gretta, her real opponent, down venomously.

"You just haven't seen the real horror yet" Vega said. "When you see your friends and crew-mates start to die in senseless battles, and when you see the bloodstained grass that you have to walk upon wherever you land, then maybe you'll see how wrong you are in thinking this life will make you happy! 'Happiness'...I've given that up a long time ago. It's the only way I can carry on anymore, if I know that happiness is something out of my reach...That's why I've stayed here so long, because even though I wasn't happy I was safe. When I wanted to be happy, I couldn't be safe at the same time. When I was enjoying the ocean, we'd fall under attack, or have to attack someone else. And of course, that boisterous man _never_ makes me happy. His obnoxious showmanship and his evil, it's all just so inexcusable! I know, near him, I can never be happy but I can be safe."

"But now he's gone, isn't he?" Gretta said. "Now you're alone. Does this mean you're going to try and find happiness?" Vega looked down at the floor for a moment, refusing to address Gretta eye-to-eye, but her confidence was restored and she rose up to meet Gretta's hard and apathetic gaze with an equal force.

"I have to live my life" Vega said "on my own. I'm not someone's pawn anymore. If it means war and fighting by myself, then at least I can be happy to move as far as I can alone. **I'd rather die without anyone seeing my smile than have to be let somebody toss my corpse into the sea...**"

"You're an idiot" Gretta said. Vega was startled at her bluntness and recalled, in her hand, the sword that she had been using to threaten her. She swung it forward and pointed it at Gretta's throat from the door of the room. "You're too straightforward. It's making you predictable. I thought that this was the sea of unpredictability, the infamously random Grand Line. How can you survive, with or without people, if you're so predictable?"

"Who are you to talk about this place?" Vega demanded. "I've seen numerous things that would send even that chuckle-head captain of yours sailing for his life _away_ from this disastrous ocean!"

"I doubt that" Araly said. "Bard....in all his life, he's never considered running from a challenge. He's just incapable of it..."

"That's why so many people are behind him already" Gretta said. "Including me. I know that, whatever happens, he'll defend everyone behind him, because he wants all of us to be able to go on together, no matter what. He does it out of pride, and duty, and to show off his strength."

"Mostly" Araly said, "he does it...so that everyone behind him...can be happy..." Vega's eyes widened at Araly, and her blade drifted over to point at her. Gretta silently moved to try and subdue the threatening woman but Vega saw her effort and hammered the pommel of her rapier into Gretta's throat, toppling the innocent maiden right down to the floor, wincing in pain.

"What a childish wish" she said. "**There is no happiness on this ocean. Only death and pain if you follow another.** If you can't follow in your own path, and live life on your own, what good are you anywhere? The world doesn't need people who can't take care of themselves!"

"You're just short-sighted" Araly said, trying to push her self up off the floor to seem less subdued and weak. "Bard doesn't want people to follow him for his sake. He wants to help people go to their own dreams. He's not trying to guide all of us, we're just behind him because **he's further ahead....than anyone else.**" Vega became infuriated at the intolerable amount of opposition she was amassing. Her own wisdom was shot down by two rookie young women, neither of them in any respect pirates worth having a name or being on a crew the likes that defeated the Top Hats. She resolved not to kill Araly but to stab her well enough so that she could know the same pain that _she_ had been through.

Then the door exploded open. The entire lower half flew up and hit Vega in her shoulder and the side of her face. The sword was thrown from her hand and hit against the wall as she herself was thrown by the carrying force of the door itself into the opposite wall where she lost consciousness and slumped down onto the floor. Following the door's explosion was the heavy stomp of a leg as it fell down and crushed some of the broken wood underfoot. Then, in stepped Bard, his skin soaking wet and his black cape heavy from the water, as he peered into the room in confusion.

"Aha!" he exclaimed. "Here you guys are! I was looking all over this ship for you!" Gretta pushed herself up with her hand on her neck and looked up. Bard saw her and extended a hand to help her to her feet. When she took it he pulled her up _off_ her feet and gently set her down on them again. Araly was in worse condition naturally, so Bard took off his coat and whipped the water off of it with one powerful swing. He laid it down beside her, rolled her gently onto it and picked it up, giving her a hammock to sit on as her stomach recovered.

"Thank you, Bard" Araly said.

"Aw, no problem!" Bard said. "I knew you two were in trouble, so I came to rescue you ASP!!"

"AS_A_P" Gretta corrected. Bard made a dumb face as he was corrected. Vega was still unconscious and huddled under a mass of broken wood between the bed-posts. Bard saw her as he turned to leave but paid her no mind. He wouldn't waste his time or emotions on someone who had inconvenienced him so much. Gretta left after him, taking a look back at Vega, then turned and walked toward her to gently touch her face.

_She's almost exactly like me_ Gretta realized. _I wonder...maybe there are only so many faced out in the world that people can have. If the world is truly as expansive as I think it is, it would be foolish to assume that there is a different face for every single person in the world...._ Gretta drew away, taking Vega's sword with her, and left for the deck where Bard was waiting. He took to the helm and steered the ship full around, to meet with the distant but closing Imperial Dragon....

* * *

A long gangplank was lowered from the deck of the Dragon onto the Top Hat's ship and, one-by-one, the defeated crew was loaded off without any weapons and their ship thoroughly cleaned of any valuables by the Buster Pirates. No one was extemporaneously harmed, however. One beating was enough for the Buster Pirates, who still reveled in their victory. Talk had begun across the ship about disabling the Top Hats from going on, but it was ultimately dismissed by Bard who watched to make sure everyone got on the boat safely from the steep plank. Eventually everyone was there, save but one.

"Alright" Bard said, "cut him down. I'll take this personally." The pirates went to get Aleister down from his suspended prison. They kept the metal traps on his hands out of obvious safety, and Bard began to escort him off his ship. Aleister walked in front while Bard hung back with his arms crossed and his legs obviously ready to act on reflex. Aleister warily stepped on the gangplank and started walking slowly. It creaked and bent to his enormous body with the weight of the cages on his hands adding to it.

"You'll take these blasted things off, won't you?" Aleister asked.

"Maybe" Bard said. Aleister smirked, hiding it from Brad, as he continued. "Were you ever really out just to entertain? Has your whole voyage just been a search for people to trick and fool and otherwise screw over?"

"I've always been a brilliant man" Aleister said. "I wouldn't be so foolish as to act out of sheer good-will! In this age, my boy, such men are stricken down in an instant!" Bard scowled. "This is an age of hardship and war! The forces are always moving against us, the underdogs, the unlikely ones to keep us down. The Marines, the Shichibukai, and far out in the reaches you and I can't dare imagine, there are the Emperors, the Yonkou. Four of the most powerful creatures in existence, ruling the latter part of this dangerous world like demon kings! Do you really think a good deed would shine for even a second in such a world?"

"I'm not asking if you're a good man" Bard said. "When was the last time you didn't charge or steal for your show?"

"Ha!" Aleister laughed. "What's the point of perfecting something if you can't use it for gain? Look, my boy, the fantastic nature of magic is in its selectivity. Only so few people, like myself, are able to master it without external aid. Then, with such aid as I have, it only becomes that much easier to use my already perfect skills for myself! If I didn't want to make myself wealthy and powerful using magic I wouldn't have practiced it to the length that I have!"

"So in the end" Bard said "you're not really a magician. You're just an ass who knows a couple tricks." Aleister gave a sinister grin. Bard's blunt correctness had somewhat hurt his pride, admitting to himself that in reality, Bard's view wasn't private. What was a magician that didn't love the magic he knew? It was a sham, a scammer, just a showboater looking for some passing money on the sea. Aleister hopped down onto the deck of his ship, followed by Bard as the gangplank was mechanically drawn back up into the side of the ship.

"Well, my boy" Aleister began, "it's certainly been quite a show, hasn't it?" Bard glowered up at the man. He pitifully held out his boxed arms to be freed, and Bard obliged. He delatched the boxes and stacked them up in his arms , carrying them without any strain. Aleister's hands were free again and still with the same power constantly active. "Hahaha! Feels good to be free! Don't you agree, Bard? Freedom is wonderful, isn't it?" Bard smiled with his brows still tense and stepped forward. He tossed the boxes up with a quick flex of his back and whip of his arm and delivered a stepping high-kick to Aleister's stomach.

"Yeah" Bard said as he walked away, leaving Aleister buckled over in pain. "Freedom's awesome!" He caught the boxes, crouched down and then jumped clear from ship to ship, rocking the Top Hat's boat from the sheer force of his jump. Aleister was still in pain and groaned, unable to hold his hurt gut with either hand and instead wrapped his thick arms around his body.

"Captain!" one of the men shouted. "Are you alright? We don't have any weapons so....is this okay? Just letting them leave us like this in the ocean!?"

"Hehehennnn" Aleister laughed as he groaned. "Well played, that boy! A fantastic show he's put on! **I may be upstaged yet by him! Hnnhnnhnnn!!!**" Aleister managed to stand up and walk his way into the big doors that led into his room at the aft of the ship. His thudding footsteps awoke Vega whose room was just below her captain's. She sat up from her bed, remembering being covered by broken wood before, and looked around. Yet again, she was alone in the room and seemingly detained by her own crew. The door was shut, the beds were empty but hers, and some loose cords of rope were at her bedside. She got up in a furious huff and stormed out the door. At her breast under her clothes, the same feeling that she'd carried with her everywhere was still there. An old leather sheathe with an aged and faded dagger was still within her grip. She moved through the ship with the unflinching intent to use it, and walked straight to her captain's room.

"Vega!" Aleister exclaimed. "Where did you go? What were you doing? All of us were fighting for our lives and you sped off!" Vega glowered with a palpable rage that silenced the giant man for a moment. He broke a smile and scowled down at her in return. "Ah, you're a better assistant than I even thought! Disappearing from my sight is quite a feat. What will your next performace be, I wonder?"

"I'm done with magic" Vega said. She took out her worn dagger and charged. Aleister rose up his hands to defend himself and swung down at Vega....but he missed. His invisible hand drifted in the open air as Vega jumped at him, now with her left hand bracing the back of the dagger to drive it even harder forward. Aleister blocked with his hand, hoping to drown her in the abyss of his portal and keep her there. For a brief moment Vega felt a painful anxiety, a fear that kicked itself up from the dust of her past. Then it passed, as if it was nothing, and she powered forward with a gleaming in her eyes. Aleister was stunned and frozen in total fear. Vega stabbed her dagger into the palm of his hand **and it sank with blood following soon after....**

Vega fell back down, leaving her dagger blade in his skin. It had broken, leaving only the worn hilt for her to hold in her hand. Aleister looked down at her eyes, the gleaming red orbs of fury, and met them for a time that seemed to be eternal. A frozen moment of paralyzed fear. Then she left, leaving her rage in that room along with the wound in her captain's invisible hand, and he stayed sitting with his mouth agape and his eyes shallow with a total fear coursing through him. He slowly managed to move his hand and his head and he stared fearfully at the bleeding cut and the dagger still in his palm. Overcoming fear with the pain, he pressed the dagger with his fingers and it was gone, disappeared into the portal dimension he held, but the wound was still there and real.

_That girl...!_ Aleister thought. He looked to his door and leaned over his bed to look out it. He saw her white hair and fair skin from across the ship. She was leaning against the rail of the bow while the rest of the crew set the coordinates and managed the ship to move in a direction away from the Buster Pirates. _She continues to amaze me time and time again! But I wonder, does she even know what skills she possesses? Does she truly have such a powerful gift?_ Vega stared off into the horizon, thinking nothing of what she'd done but feeling it in her whole body. The weight of those that died that day years ago, all the karma that she was carrying in that single knife, it was all gone. She felt light enough to fly, to walk on water, but sadly she just stood against the ship that imprisoned her, finally seeing just how trapped she was with nothing but infinite sea to all her sides.

_The true magic of the Grand Line....no doubt, she has 'that gift'!!!_ Aleister realized. He smiled wide and sinisterly. Now that he knew, his power had unnaturally grown, and his assistant's irreplaceable worth to him had become even more astounding.....

* * *

Many of the Buster Pirates crowded at the aft of the deck, with Maxwell being at their center, snoring over all of their chattering and forcing them to be even louder.

"Will this be okay?" a pirate shouted in curious exclamation. "I mean, letting them sail away like this? What if they chase us? What if we have to meet them really soon again!?"

"Who knows!?" a wiser pirate said. "That's just the way of this sea! It throws misfortune and fortune at you at once and forces you to choose between them in a split-second!"

"The clear path of weather" another man said "may be the route into hell! Letting them go free is the most merciful thing we can do right now, anyway."

"What!?" a pirate shouted, not hearing them.

"It's better to let them go like this!" the pirate shouted. "It's more merciful!"

"When's the last time mercy counted on the Grand Line!?" the pirate shouted in response.

"**IT'S TOO DAMN LOOOOOUD!!!!"** a muscle-head roared. Maxwell's snoring even went off louder than his shout, draining out his voice in defeat while the crowd just stood and watched deafly at the ship in the far distance.

"They're turning away!" a pirate with a spyglass shouted. "They're turning away!"

"They are!?" another pirate exclaimed. "Where are they going!?"

"They might have more than one pose" another pirate mentioned. "They're thieves, after all. They wouldn't make great thieves if they just wandered out in the middle of nowhere or if they hit the same place over and over again."

"They must've been to most of the beginning islands in the Grand Line already" another pirate said, well under Maxwell's snoring roars.

"**GIVE IT A REST!!!"** a man shouted, slapping Maxwell on his greasy head. In a second his wrist was jerked and his whole body was flung forward and off the boat. He screamed as he fell down and crashed into the water far below.

"GAAAAAAHHH!!!!" shouted the crew. "Someone save him!"

"I'm going!" Marco exclaimed. "Get some rope! A whole damn lot of rope!"

"Got it!" another pirate exclaimed. The men moved rapidly to necessitate their tossed comrade at the aft of the ship while the Paladins steered the ship and worked the sails from the Underdeck and the Captain's Crew sat up at the helm together. Rez, Zan, Gretta and Araly made up Bard's selective group of upper-ranked members, given the name of Captain's Crew by the rest of the crew. Rez stood behind the wheel and kept it steady, on route to the next island as marked by his log pose.

"I wonder how much longer we're going to be traveling" Rez said. "Today was just all kinds of hectic."

"If you watch a clock" Zan said "then time slows down. Don't fret so much and enjoy the ride."

"Is that how it is?" Gretta said, making quick work to jot down Zan's spoken word. "Well, I'm quite enjoying myself already."

"You're mad" Araly said.

"I'm actually feeling quite complacent" Gretta said. "I was, at worst, a bit irked that we were abducted, but never mad."

"No, I'm saying your crazy" Araly said to correct herself.

"Then" Gretta said "I suppose all of those men are crazy as well?" Araly looked back from her hammock, hung across the railing to suspend her just over the ship's actual wooden deck, and saw the men at the aft making a commotion and crowding all around each other.

"Not crazy" Araly said "but I wouldn't venture that they're the most brilliant pirates, either."

"They're strong" Bard said "and they're fearless! Like me!"

"If we had a whole crew of you" Araly exasperated "then this ship would be sunk!" Bard grinned and snickered to himself.

"I'm sure you made a good call" Zan began "in your own mind, but be aware we already have one powerful enemy on this sea. If all you do is build up your reserve of rivals, you'll soon find yourself faced with an armada of villains. The saying 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' works with everyone."

"I'll keep that in mind" Bard said. "Anyway, just leaving them out in the middle of the ocean wouldn't be the right thing to do."

"It'd be smart, though" Rez said.

"But it wouldn't be honorable" Gretta said. "Honor is something that they've all but lost as pirates. Showing them what honor can do is the least we can do to let them suffer alone."

"That's not what I had in mind" Bard said. "I thought about what to do that would be best for us. Taking their sail, breaking their rudder, even leaving with all their food and letting them keep their treasure to drive them mad and make them eat it!"

"That's what _you_ might do...." Rez said.

"But no" Bard continued. "That's all wrong. If we're going to be strong enough to conquer all our foes, no matter who they are, then we need to train! And our enemies won't always be like us! In fact, I doubt we might meet a single person that's like us for a long time! For the most part, it's going to be strange and extremely powerful people with amazing abilities. There's no guarantee that the allies we met before will remain our allies forever, either. So, if we want to be truly strong, **then we must fight everyone we can! However many enemies we make is just that many battles that we'll have to win!!!"** As always, Bard's logic inspired both exasperated angst and courageous pride in those who heard it. Rez and Zan both smiled at his short speech while Araly rolled over and groaned. Gretta was motioning to write it down, but her hand froze up suddenly and she couldn't even jot down a letter.

"Is that so?" Gretta said.

"So it is!" Bard exclaimed. "We'll carve the mountain of our power with the bodies of our broken enemies!"

"That sounds kinda graphic" Araly said.

"How many bodies makes a mountain?" Rez asked Zan.

"Depends on what a mountain is to you" Zan answered.

_This is getting too poor for my taste_ Araly said, unable to follow the men's logic any further. Gretta understood it, but was still making sense of it.

_The bodies of our enemies...?_ Gretta thought. _So then, I must make my own mountain after all? I think I was wrong....no, I was right all along, but I wish I wasn't. Bard is here to lead us to our selves. He's not here to help us or to achieve for us. He's the shadow that we all stand under together. United, we are separate. Together....we are alone. I suppose that.....is a 'warrior's way'...._

Gretta snapped her pencil in her fingers and turned away. "I'm going to bed" she said. "It's been a long day for all of us...."

"Good idea!" Bard exclaimed. "When you wake up and you're body burns with the strain of work it means you've done an amazing job of fighting! Look forward to the pain!"

"Don't scare her with that talk!" Araly exclaimed.

"It takes a mad man to love pain that much" Rez said. Gretta continued away, into the Captain's room and onto the bed she had commandeered, sinking her face into the pillow before falling fast asleep.

The sun sets on the Grand Line. A vicious cycle repeats endlessly, waiting for a great rupture to break the ever-winding gears and chains that move the predictable fates of the unlucky many....


	108. A Mystery Ship of Metal

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The life of the pirate in the great Age of Pirates is one constantly filled with mystery and adventure. Exploring new, uncharted lands. Fighting epic battles against insanely powerful foes to further one's own footing in the adventurous world. Spanning the seas in search of the ultimate treasure. The great age of romance, the epic of every man's life, brings wonder and excitement to the hearts of all! However, some of those hearts are markedly unswayed by adventure, and are prone rather to fits of narcolepsy in the face of it.

Enter Araly, asleep during a storm so powerful that the Imperial Dragon itself shakes and rocks. The waves crash against the sides of the ship and smash like leaping monsters from up under the surf. Nature lays siege against the massive ship in a dark and cruel moment, then it all lulls and only the softly beating rain and winds remain of the surge of the ocean. Down below, on the Under Deck, the crew rushed to and fro in a panic.

"Up top!" Marco shouted. "Check it out!" A pirate broke away from his duty and ran to the door. He opened it and felt the wind and the rain swaying his hair in a forceful breeze.

"We've got headwind and rain" the pirate called. "The ship stopped shaking, though!"

"That's a little better" Marco said as the rest of the pirates sighed and cheered with relief. "Alright, where's the captain? We need his orders to proceed."

"Uh, he's taking the sails down" the pirate at the door said.

"EH!" Marco exclaimed. "Since when!" Ropes and gears started to wind and unfurl suddenly as Bard unraveled the Grand Sail from up top. He hung from a rope and swung down from the heights of the masts, bringing the grand black drape with the emblem of the golden dragon's skull emblazoned upon it. He jumped from the rope and landed with a loud thud onto the deck. His stance was proud and tall, a tall and proud young man as he was. He rested his fists onto his hips and flexed his arms out to his sides. He looked skyward with a grin as the rain slowly stopped and the wind continued to breeze. The clouds began to part, as if torn asunder by the bowsprit of the ship itself, carving forth a tunnel of light in the heavens through which a brilliant sun shone down and made the whole ship glisten.

"Heh" Bard said. "Not too bad. The sun's a bit late, though. If it had started shining the moment I landed, everything would have been a bit cooler..."

"Indeed" spoke Zan. Bard looked down and saw the man's face half-fused with the wet floor of the Main Deck. Zan phased his way up through the wood and stood fully before his captain with a brush of his sharp bangs. "Still, that was an impressive little burst of ego."

"Hehehe!" Bard triumphantly laughed. Zan took out a cigarette and lit it discreetly.

"I've discovered something strange down below, captain" Zan reported. "Apparently, it's gone without our notice for a while."

"Eh?" Bard said. "What is it?"

"We've got more room than we thought before" Zan said. He and Bard went down below immediately while the rest of the crew went to their places across the Main Deck to work and maintain the ship. While it was still wet, the pirates swabbed and polished everything to a powerful luster. The Grand Sail billowed up, full of wind and power, and the Wing Sails were extended out as well to catch the rest of the breeze and power the ship forward at full speed, always traveling straight to their next destination. Bard and Zan gathered Rez as they went, pulling him away from the Under Deck's steering rod, to aid in their investigation of their immense ship.

Zan approached a flat wall and phased his hand into it. Then, with a tug, he pulled open a hidden doorway and revealed a closet-sized room lined with stone and brick.

"What the hell?" Rez said. Zan phased his hand back and shook it off.

"There are rooms like this everywhere" Zan explained. "They seem to be isolation chambers of some kind. Perhaps some kind of wide-scattered brig."

"Well that's inefficient" Rez said. "Why make a prison on a ship be everywhere at once?"

"I think that was the exact reasoning for it" Zan said.

"Don't talk weird to me" Rez demanded. "And don't answer a question with the question itself! We get nowhere that way!"

"Think about it" Zan said. "If you capture a competent crew of pirates and throw them into the same, enclosed area, they'll be more likely to escape by working together. Even if you blindfold them and haul them off, they can figure out where they are all together by memorizing how many floors they've descended and how many turns they've taken. However, by this method, even a greatly intelligent crew would have trouble escaping. If one got out, he wouldn't be near any of his comrades, and with such a large ship he'd be so disoriented about where he is and how far he had been taken that he'd barely be able to find his way back. This ship is designed to have its size used to its advantage. No normally built sail would be able to catch the wind to move such a huge ship. That's why there are two masts and one enormous sail, as well as the side sails. Have you even noticed the aft of the ship? Where the keel runs up to the deck? It's concave, so the wind hits into it and presses it forward."

Rez nodded in acknowledgment. He understood and accepted all of Zan's lecture. Bard, however, was asleep. His narcolepsy had kicked in from being exposed to too much dialogue. Rez elbowed him awake.

"You catch any of that?" Rez asked.

"Uh" Bard began "I'm just wondering why nobody noticed this before..." Rez started growling. "And besides, how do they open anyway?"

"Hidden latches" Zan said. He closed the door and turned around. He opened a small panel inside the wall, bending back one of the boards that made the wood-paneled hallway, and pulled on a lever. The wall behind him clicked and the door opened itself. "There's one for each door, but not all of them are as easily connected. This is one of the simple ones. There's at least one that opens a door on the clear other side of the ship."

"Confusing" Rez said. "Well, if we ever have to take hostages, we should make sure to utilize these rooms. Right Bard?" Again, Bard was asleep, leaning his head onto his shoulder with his arms crossed. Rez drew out a gunblade and aimed it with a seething, fanged scowl. Suddenly, a loud bell started clanging and shook Bard out of his sleepy daze.

"Ship inbound!" a pirate shouted, his voice amplified and echoing through the ship-wide Den Den Mushi announcement system. "Repeat: Ship inbound!" Bard darted his head upward. He could hear the panic up above already.

"Is it an enemy?" Bard asked.

"If it were" Rez said "we would have heard shots already."

"Why didn't we notice _this_ earlier?" Bard wondered...

* * *

The three got to the Main Deck at once and peered over the railing. In the distance, plainly visible already, was a ship. It was long and flat and covered with uneven stacks of box-shaped objects. It had no sails and no visible crew. From what it seemed at the current distance, the hull was paneled with metal.

"What the hell....!" Rez exclaimed. "Is that some kind of weird warship?"

"Looks like a submarine, if anything" Zan said.

"Huh?" Bard and Rez both dumbly moaned.

"A ship that can go underwater" Zan explained. "It has a water-tight hull and is propelled via a rotor, which is a spinning device that churns water to push the ship forward. There aren't too many of them, but I've seen them before. Usually very high-end and extremely complicated machines owned and operated by their own engineers. The Marines, to my knowledge, don't have access to them yet."

"Well, then it's a pirate ship" Rez said "if it's anything."

"Don't be too forward-thinking about that" Zan said slyly. He took out his cigarette and snuffed it against the rail of the ship, then flicked it overboard. "Do they look like they want to engage us?" Rez stared ahead at the ship. He scanned over it with squinting eyes for any detail of action or motion, scanning from narrow bow to aft. Then, far at its aft end, he saw something risen and waving. A flag without color. A white flag of surrender.

"You're kidding" Rez said. "They're waving a white flag!"

"But we didn't do anything yet" Bard said, sounding somewhat dejected. Then he turned around and stomped, posing with his hand on his flexing bicep. "GRRR! We must have overwhelmed them with our **sheer awesomeness!**"

"**OHHHH!**" the burly crew roared in unison.

"Or" Marco said, looking on with a skeptical group of older pirates "they're just incapable of fighting...."

"No man is incapable of fighting" Bard exclaimed "so long as he exists as a man! All men can fight! It's the manly way of being a _man!_"

"Man, you're annoying!" Rez shouted. Bard stood up on the ship's railing and started rolling his shoulders and winding his arms.

"Be careful, captain" Zan said. "They be setting up a trap, after all. Some people are dishonorable in this world."

"Heh" Bard scoffed. "Have a little faith in me, Zan. I've got a body that can withstand cannon-fire. I think I can handle something as simple as a trap if I need to!" Bard made his usual arrogant rush, jumping from the deck in a blur and splashing onto the water a great distance away. He ran the rest of the way, madly pumping his legs and splashing huge plumes of water into the waves with each tremendous stride he made. He started to slow down and made a Geppou jump onto the deck of the opposite ship, landing on a great metal box and nearly losing his balance in surprise. "Wha? More metal?" Bard looked around and saw that the entirety of the ship was covered in boxes, all without any kind of insignia at all and haphazardly arranged. Then he looked to the aft and saw an elevated room where the flag was risen from. It had three long, narrow horizontal windows that stretched around its whole front. It was lit from within as well with a bright, yellow lighting. "What the hell...kind of ship is this?"

Some time passed as the two ships traveled in tandem together. The Imperial Dragon was slowed to keep pace with the other ship as they awaited Bard's return. Rez took the helm, Zan watched diligently using a spyglass from within his own rib-cage, and the rest of the crew simply went about their business of delegating the ship's functions. At length, the lull and suspense finally reached the simpler minds, and the burly brawn-brained pirates began to berserk.

"GAAAAHHH!" one large man roared. "That's it! He's dead! Definitely dead! The most powerful man in the world must be on that ship!" He tore off his shirt and rushed for the railing, right beside Zan. "I've gotta do something! I'm going for it! I'm gonna swim across the waves and overtake that ship by force, just like captain Bard would want one of us to do!"

"Go for iiiiit!" one of his friends shouted.

"Deliver punishment!" one of the Palidins exclaimed.

"You" the man said, leering at Zan, "don't you try and stop me now!" Zan just kept staring ahead, watching for some sign of motion from the enemy ship, ignoring the man beside him currently quaking with fear. "Alright, here I go!" he said. He crouched down and held his arms forward, like he was going for a high dive. Then he started bending his legs to stretch them out, then started stretching his sides with his arms over his head. As he was doing squats and rhythmic breathing exercises, Zan suddenly spoke.

"You'll die." With that, the pirate gave up and sulked away.

"I'm so worthless...." he said as he sobbed. "Captain Bard, I was unable to avenge you."

"Get serious!" Marco called.

"Oh!" Zan exclaimed. He focused his spyglass and tried to zoom in. The white flag was slowly lowered, and in its place was a black heap of cloth with a golden emblem on it. Zan recognized it easily as Bard's own coat. "Well I'll be damned...."

"What's happening now?" Rez shouted. Zan collapsed his telescope and pushed it back into his body.

"Looks like we took the ship" Zan shouted. "Let's get a bit closer."

"If you say so" Rez said. Suddenly, the crew cheered and reveled in victory. Nothing had happened and they had already somehow acquired a ship! Zan turned back to the sea and lit up another cigarette. He felt something creeping up on him, and his razor assassin's senses prompted him to turn in an instant away from his lit match. Gretta was standing beside him and quickly looked away from him and at the ship that was slowly closing in.

"What's that?" she asked. Gretta was wearing a long overcoat, covering up whatever other clothes she had on underneath, and had a bow slung across her back with the string slacked around her torso to stay on. Zan smirked and lit his cigarette up, waving out the flame of the match and tossing it overboard.

"Looks like it's ours now" Zan said. Gretta glanced up at him again, then leaned against the rail and stared out to the ship. The distance between the Dragon and the metal ship floating freely in the ocean started to close until they were right next to each other, keeping an even pace. It was so low to the ocean compared to the tall and huge Imperial Dragon that the normal gangplanks couldn't easily reach it. They slid on the metal boxes or caught in corners that threatened to break them.

"We have ropes" Gretta said as she tied one end of a long cord to the ship's rail. She tossed the rest over the side and it hit on one of the boxes below. "Keep us steady" she said, disembarking before anyone else.

"Brave girl" one of the pirate's said. Zan jumped down and caught the rope as well, making his way down just behind Gretta. "Brave guy" the pirate said. "Well, I guess we should go as well, right?"

"Hold up!" Rez shouted from the helm. "If this _is_ a trap, we can't leave the ship undefended. I'm staying here to keep us steady. Only ten of you can go, so figure it out on your own." The pirates turned to each other in an attempt to strategize, but words started to go over each other too rapidly and eventually a shouting match broke out. The shouting devolved into tussling, and then fighting, and then their pride as pirates sailing under the glorious golden dragon of Bard's namesake overtook them and an organized bracket tournament began between the two masts. Rez turned back and saw men on deck deciding the order of the next match by playing rock-paper-scissors while the two fighting wrestled each other into submission. The rest of the crew cheered at every move, nobody showing any preference except for the awesome spectacle of fighting. Rez sighed and looked forward.

"Damn them, relaxing at a time like this" he lowed. Down on the metal deck of the other ship, Gretta and Zan continued their departure by carefully scaling down the sheer side of the metal stack of boxes. Zan just walked down them, fazing through them with great ease, while Gretta demanded more adventurous actions of herself. Being the sheltered girl that she was, her hands and fingers weren't nearly strong enough to keep her supported for too long, and she started to fall. Before she could even start screaming, Zan was under her and caught her in his chest.

"Thank you" Gretta said.

"No problem" Zan said. He started sliding down through the boxes and stopped himself to jump out and land unharmed onto the deck. He tapped his leathery boot against the surface and heard it clang loudly. "It's all metal...how is this thing staying afloat?" He let Gretta off, leaving her to stand secretly swooning while he made his way forward onto the unknown ship's greater expanse. Gretta snapped out of her daydream daze and caught up with him quickly. "It's not a sub, but perhaps it functions like one. The hull seems to thick to really stay afloat, though, but it could be hollow."

"If it's ours" Gretta began "then why don't you investigate? We should know everything we can about our new ship, after all."

"Fair enough" Zan said. "Head for the aft of the ship, where the biggest room seems to be. That's where Bard's coat is hoisted, so that must be where he is." Gretta nodded and ran off. Zan looked after her for a moment and saw that she had a small belt tied around her pantleg with a knife sheathed in it. He smirked at it and began fazing downward. _She seems to be getting used to this life rather quickly_ he thought. He was gone from the surface and descended down into the lower reaches of the ship, encumbered by the confusing workings and arrangements of metal pipes, the hissing of steam and the coursing of sea water that was to him like an actual solid object. _So it runs on water somehow...._

* * *

Gretta made her way silently up a flight of purely metal steps. At first her feet fell and made an echo of noise no matter how she tried to ascend them, but by half-climbing on the rail she managed to minimize her presence to sheer silence again. Only her knives seemed to rustle within their sheathes that were held fast to her leg under her coat. She shimmied her way up to the top of the flight and pressed her body against the metal hull of the large command room.

_This ship is hardly a normal one_ Gretta thought. _Of all the diagrams and blueprints for ships I've read from Araly's collection, this ship simply seems to defy all the normal properties of what a ship is. No sail, all metal, no cannons even. And this huge room at the its upper-most deck, way at the aft; one would think this ship were some form of training ground mobile upon the sea with the generals stationed in this windowed box to observe the duties of the soldiers as they spar and spread across the deck....but my crew is simply one. Other crews have less time to waste than ours does. Maybe its a ship of working more than sparring. And those huge empty boxes.....in all honesty, I'm at a loss for description of this thing. In any case, no matter how I look at it, this room must have some high-ranked person hiding inside._

Araly opened her overcoat to draw a sword. She wore a plate of masculine armor over her clothes and had two leather slings equipped with sheathes for daggers, pistols and swords. She was a one-girl walking armory and the sword she held out was one more radiant and razor-sharp than any other she had equipped. It was the rapier of Vega Void, the one she had stolen from the previous encounter with the enemy pirate crew. The elegant silver blade matched her own gorgeous, royal aura. She was ready to fight, not that she may indeed need to. It was only after equipping herself for a proper battle that she realized she had no enemies to speak of.

_Come to think of it_ Gretta began _if there was any sign of a threat, Bard would have stopped them before Zan and I arrived. I mean, he's Bard. If there was an enemy, he'd be the first to fight them....but maybe he already did. Perhaps the hoisting of his jacket isn't a sign of capture, but of conquest! Perhaps Bard was actually overwhelmed!_ Gretta took that as the standard by which she would act to justify her being armed to the teeth. She reached over for the door handle, a metal bard that twisted and unlocked a latch inside the door. Somehow, it was unlocked, and Gretta went in like a breeze, shutting the door behind her.

"Hmm?" a man grunted. He looked up from a metal shelf that was built up from the floor and darted his head around. Gretta snuck up on him and held her sword to his throat. He let out a whimper of fear but Gretta forced him to hush.

"Where is your captain?" she whispered.

"Up top" he whispered, pointing up.

"And where is _my_ captain" Gretta lowed "the man with golden hair?"

"They're both on the observation deck" the man whimpered. Gretta drew away and went toward a ladder that led up. A straight row of metal bars protruding from the metal wall. Everything around her was unknown and frighteningly strange. Metal walls, metal hulls, metal floors and tables with slides and buttons and levers; this was a ship unheard of entirely. Gretta climbed up the ladder to the deck above but found no one around. She was in the middle deck, looking out the long window onto the deck. There were still many tables of metal and empty chairs. It seemed to be an identical workstation to the one below, but without even a single person occupying it. Gretta turned and saw the ladder leading up even further, into a hatch that was closed. Gretta ascended up to the top deck and slowly, silently opened the hatch up. She heard many men talking in a raucous, drunken way. Someone stomped on the metal hatch and pressed Gretta down with their weight. She shrunk away, able to keep her head from being hit thanks to her own quick reflexes, and waited to pop up again.

_There seemed to be a lot of them_ Gretta thought _but they're off guard. They sounded laggard and dreary. I can take them all at once...._ Once the pressure was off of the hatch she threw it open and jumped up onto the observation deck. Metal tables were bolted to the floor with heavy looking square-tipped nails. Wooden chairs with wheels on the legs were positioned at each table. A box that a man was reaching inside held well-preserved food and drinks and let out a cool mist. The lighting overhead was electric and run through tube-like glass objects embedded into the metal ceiling and sealed behind thick panels of glass. Gretta held her sword up before her face and glared with her blood-red eyes. All the men, round and dumb-looking deckhands dressed in greasy, tattered clothes looked her way in confusion.

"Uh, hey there" a man said, drunkenly reaching for her. Gretta snapped to action. She jumped away from him and cut his hand. He shrank away and shouted in pain as his greasy palm started to bleed.

"Hey!" another man shouted from behind. He grabbed Gretta's overcoat and she released the knot that kept it tied to her. She spun around and gave him a cut across the shoulder. Now the room was moving hr way. With the sword tight in hand, Gretta relaxed her arm and started making wide sweeps, cutting through clothes and drawing blood all around her. The men that came her way either shrank back in cowardice or fell down in pain as she cut her way through them. An elegant, white-shaded shadow with flashing red eyes.

In no time at all Gretta had conquered the room with her sword. Alone, against all odds and a constant flow of villainous men, she stood proud and strong. She had made her way through her first real battle as a pirate. The first time she'd ever wielded a sword in any proper sense. She took her overcoat back from the greasy clutch of the man groaning on the floor and wiped her blade on it.

"You all need to train harder" she said. After that she sheathed her blade and looked around. Still, there was no sign of Bard, but there was an open door leading to an outer deck. She found, outside, a short staircase leading up and stealthily climbed up it. There she saw Bard, standing tall and arrogantly victorious as she always saw him, staring ahead as the bright ocean sky. Beside him was a man, very short by comparison, with a sheathed sword and pistol at his side. Gretta glided across the metal floor, silent and swift, and arrive next to the man to glare him down a moment before she drew a dagger. The man turned his head to her and jolted away, into Bard, when he saw the white-haired girl holding a weapon to him.

"Who-who are you!" the man said. Bard looked down and saw Gretta holding a weapon. He frowned and plucked the weapon from her hand. She reached up for it, but he held it away and broke the blade between his fingers.

"What was that for?" Bard asked. "Sneaking up on people and threatening them so quietly. That's Zan's job!"

"Captain" Gretta began, "I thought you were in trouble somehow!"

"Nah!" Bard said happily.

"Then, you really did manage to take the ship over on your own?" Gretta said.

"Huh?" Bard grunted. "Since when....did I plan on doing that?"

"Sir Samekawa" the man between them began, "is this one of your crew-men?"

"Yup" Bard answered. "That's Gretta. She's a princess, or was."

"So why is your jacket in place of their flag?" Gretta asked.

"UAH! CAPTAIN NEPALS!" a man cried. One of the men with a bleeding arm came up from the observation deck onto the top of the bridge platform holding his arm in pain. He sulked over with tears bulging in his eyes and pointed shakily to Gretta. "That-that little bitch just cut us all up!"

"What!" the man, addressed as Nepals, exclaimed. "Miss Gretta, why did you do that!"

"I though" Gretta flatly began "my captain was in trouble. You were all celebrating and his jacket is flying in place of what was once a white flag. If a trap had been sprung, even Bard may have fallen into it. That is why-"

"Oh that" Bard said, glancing up at his jacket. "It got wet and heavy from the salt water, so I hung it up there to dry." A brief silence passed. Gretta squinted and looked up at Bard, who was looking in turn skyward at his jacket. His stupidity was blinding.....

_Oh, my captain...._ Gretta thought. _I should have known....you're never actually in danger at all, are you?_


	109. The Genius Shipwright, Alan Nepals

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

The ending result had finally come. The ten strongest men of the Buster crew were revealed at the end of the long-drawn tournament. Barbell Jacques, a loud and wide-jawed man burly man wearing sea-blue overalls and a dark-blue jacket embroidered with the crew's emblem in black, stood out as the strongest. Behind him were nine of the Paladins, all posing in their tunics and armor-plated pants with fierce beards and tied-back flowing manes, forming the team of the strongest crewmen decided via unarmed free-for-all combat.

"Alright, lads!" Jacques shouted. "This is it! Do or die time! We're going down to that ship, and by God, we're not leaving until we've sunken it! **Even if we have to raze all hell with out BARE HANDS!**"

"**UUUOOOOOHHHH!"** roared the crew in reply. Just as Jacques hopped onto the rail to slide down the rope of descent, Gretta arrived and hopped back onto the deck.

"Oh, Gretta's back!" Jacques shouted. "What's the news?" She turned and saw his wide, eager grin over his jutting, manly jaw and turned it away.

"Tell them they're not going" she said.

"Eh?" Jacques grunted.

"We only need the nurses to tend to the wounded" Gretta said. "Nobody else goes until Bard gives the word."

"**EEEEHHHH?"** bellowed the rest of the crew, most of whom were leaning on crutches and were already bandaged up around their swollen, beaten faces from the fighting. The nurses were called upon and departed immediately, led down one at a time onto the deck of the ship and instructed in detail by Gretta where to go. Once Gretta saw all the nurses on their way she turned to the crew, all of whom had sullenly returned to sob at their posts.

"All that fighting for nothing" a man moaned.

"Just sound and fury" another prosed "without any righteous end!"

"Oh, the woe!" a Paladin bemoaned. Gretta sighed and left the deck to walk to the helm where Rez was steering.

"I'm here to dismiss you" Gretta said. Rez glanced at her then turned right back to his fixed horizon. "Captain's orders. You're needed down on the ship."

"What's he done?" Rez asked. "Did he seriously get captured?"

"No" Gretta said. She gave a silent pause of shame. "There was never a fight. I, however, injured every unarmed and non-hostile crew member that was within my sight and reach at the time of my arrival, thinking that Bard had been captured. There are peaceful negotiations underway currently, and Bard has called upon you to act as a second-opinion in regard to the crew as a whole." Rez gave a stern moment of thought, then pulled Gretta to the wheel.

"Keep it straight" he said. "Find a point on the horizon straight ahead and don't let it move. We're going as slow as we can to keep up with the ship, so don't decide to speed off or weigh anchor right away."

"Right" Gretta said. She took the wheel and locked it in place with her arms. She started straight ahead, into the cloudy sky and endlessly round expanse of the world beyond, keeping her sight locked on the tip of the bowsprit. Rez charged away, down the deck and to the rope. He spun it around his ankle and under his armpit so the rope didn't harshly brush onto his bare skin. Once he was on the ship he followed a nurse to the main bridge where Bard was apparently waiting. He awed at the ship as he ran, taking in every detail of the amazing metal craft, stomping echoing steps across its flat deck.

Meanwhile, within the metal hull, Zan continued his own inspection without knowing the situation up top. He inspected a myriad of blind corners and hallways, all so thickly strewn with pipes that hissed and conducted unnatural heat, memorizing each turn as if it were to become a battlefield in some early future. Such was an assassin's habit. Zan took no time to marvel at the machinery and its amazing complexities. He only took to notice how hard or easy it was for his arm to pass through at any given point.

_I understand a bit_ Zan thought. His hand was melded halfway into a metal box when it hit a solid object, one which he couldn't pass through. _These pipes pump saltwater gathered from the ocean. I bet if I followed them I could find the engine. I wonder what such a thing would look like..._ Zan made his way through more halls, all nearly identical, and found his way into an open area with a heavy-looking machine folded up like a bird's wing. Zan moved closer to inspect it in the darkness. As he approached it he felt a strange sense of danger in the air that was quick to circle about him. He felt some unseen enemy observing him from the shadows, but just as he began to hone in on it the presence vanished. _Am I getting paranoid? No. As an assassin, one can never be too paranoid. If anything, I need to be extremely cautious to the point of scaring myself..._ Zan's second-nature habit forced him to pull out a cigarette to ease his nerves, though his overpowering logic prevented him from getting his lighter as well. _I work too hard_ he thought.

"The boss wants us to raise the crane" a voice instructed from the shadows. Zan's body reacted instantaneously. He slipped through the metal frame of the machine's folded arm, sped across the floor in quick, silent steps and jumped up into a dark corner still kept hidden by shadows after a bright light flashed from an electric lamp. Two workers, one holding the lamp, came from a hallway. They were wearing Strange clothing, jumpsuits made of thick cotton and padded at all joints and broader parts with leather that was studded in with metal rivets. They wore metal helmets with lights affixed to the front, though the man with the lantern's light was broken.

"What for?" asked the man with the lamp.

"Looks like we have visitors" the other man said with slacked jaw. "It's probably the Marines or something."

"Not every day we get to use this thing, too" the lamp-man said. "It was pretty damn exciting seeing this thing work the first time." The slack-jawed man noticed something on the ground. Zan then realized, by some bizarre strock of misfortune, he had forgotten something critical. **In his haste, his cigarette did not fuse through the metal with him and fell out of his mouth!** Zan started to tense up as the man took the cigarette up.

"This yours?" he asked to his cohort.

"I don't smoke" the lamp-man said. "Am I going to have to do this by myself?" The slack-jawed man, giving the cigarette's presence no more concern, shrugged and put it in his mouth.

"Alright" he said with a clap of his hands, "let's open this sucker!" The lamp-man stood at a strange metal box that rose up from the floor and flipped a large handlebar lever. The roof overhead started to open up, as if a fissure on the metal deck above had cleaved a perfect slice through the ship, and the floor was being slowly lifted up in two wide pieces. With another pull of another lever the surrounding floor of the folded crane arm started to rise up, lifted by a loud hissing of steam-powered hydraulics. The slack-jawed man got behind another set of controls and started lifting levers and pushing buttons. Two rods stuck out from the center of the panel, and the last thing Zan saw before the platform had been risen above his sight was that of the crane arm unfolding and rising.

_Incredible_ Zan thought. _That such a ship can exist on this ocean...I'm glad I got to see such a thing. The life of an adventurer isn't so bad after all..._ Zan, however, only knew so much. As he melded his way back up to the top of the deck, he again sensed a strange presence in the echoing hallways of the cavernous ship's belly. _Still, I have a feeling this won't be the only interesting thing I see today._ Zan didn't know how right he was, unfortunately. The day had barely begun...

* * *

The crane was raised up from below the deck and extended up in full. Taking the orders of their superiors from the bridge, the two workers started moving the crane with tandem and precise mechanical controls to lift up a weighted box from the deck and stack it onto a larger pile. The boxes had notches located on their undersides so that they would lock in place when stacked on top of each other and not be at risk to sliding around haphazardly during a storm. From the bridge the captain watched along with his guests, the captain and first-mate of their imposing ship.

"That's all kinds of awesome and cool" Bard said in a low, awed voice. "It's so cool. So coooool. My voice-box shut itself down because I want to scream at how cool that is."

"For once your body is useful, then" Rez said with a snap. He pushed away from the window and took a seat, screeching a metal chair across the floor to sit in. "I guess that has an interesting purpose, but I can't see it. Unless that thing can pick up and aim a cannon."

"We're working on that" said Captain Nepals. After returning from Gretta's attack, he had taken off his arms and was no more a danger to Bard than any civilian man would be. He was a young man as well, just a few years older than Bard, and sported a thin strip of beard from his lip to the tip of his chin while wearing the rest of his brown hair pressed and slicked back over his head. He was dressed to lead in a traditional, shoulder-corded blue Navy suit and on his belt he wore a buckle of the Marine symbol. "So, Captain Bard, where is your second-hand man that you said was nearby?"

"Who knows?" Bard said with a shrug. "He could be anywhere at anytime, killing any_body_."

"No!" the captain exclaimed. "Hasn't there been enough violence already?" Rez leaned back and looked up at the ceiling of the command room. There was a bulge distending down from above that slowly formed itself into the shape of a man pushing through a thin membrane of fleshy coating. Rez fell back from his chair and scurried away in fear as Zan fell down from above. The captain of the ship looked up at the swell of metal and widened his eyes while sucking in his lips. Zan landed on a table with his hands in his pockets and nodded his head coolly.

"Good day" he greeted. Bard turned around and grinned. He stepped over and took Zan's shoulder in a brotherly tug.

"Captain" Bard began, "this is Zan Edwards, the Assassin!" The captain, with hardly the sense to stay sitting still, simply sputtered out his lips and slowly rose his nervous, shaking hand up with a wave. "Zan, this is **Alan Nepals**, Captain of this ship!"

"Interesting" Zan said. He hopped down from the table, jumping past Alan and slapping his held-up hand as he went. His chair was tilted back from the high-five and his near-unconscious body added the weight to the back that made it start to tip. Zan caught him and stopped him from falling, prompting Alan to awaken and scramble out of his seat in great alarm. He crawled onto the table but was stopped from a screaming retreat by Bard. "You seem to know about me, or are you just scared of the word 'assassin'?" Alan looked up at Bard and saw him smile.

"He hasn't killed anyone since he joined my crew" Bard said. "I think he's trying to reform himself."

"Uh..." Zan spoke, not being heard. He looked around at the interior of the bridge and all its strange consoles and stands, much like the ones that were down below which operated the crane. Then, out the window, Zan saw the crane moving and working on the deck. "Well, well. This is quite the mystery ship, isn't it? How does it all work?"

"Oh, I'm glad you asked" Alan said, straightening himself up. He moved beside Zan, apparently unafraid, and smiled as he looked out the window. "This ship is, in a sense, my birthright. I was born into a genius family, which is more of a simple standard where I come from, and ever since I was a child I had dreamed of designing the most efficient and well-built transport ship that would ever sail."

"An island of geniuses?" Zan said. "Possibly, are you from Karakuri Island, Captain Nepals?"

"How did you know?" Alan exclaimed.

"I used to be a Revolutionary" Zan said "and I worked with many outstanding men of incredible variation in profession. A shipwright I knew hailed from Karakuri, the land of the world's most powerful force of intellect."

"Indeed" Nepals said "and _his_ reputation seems to precede that of every other citizen of the island. It's a constant race to inherit his will, some say, but I fail to see such a thin competition over something as minute as fame to be the reason for doing good, hard work. This ship of mine is meant to benefit all mankind, Marine or Pirate or anything in-between. That is my dream."

"So that's why there are so many pipes below the deck" Zan said with a smirk. Alan looked up at him, no sign of fear at all but a sense of conflict and protest in his eyes. He smirked it off and turned back to the deck of his ship and the infinite waters ahead.

"This ship," he began, "the _**Naughtilus**_, was designed from the ground up in my youth. It is powered by generating steam from a massive boiler located at the aft of the ship, below several hulls of metal under this bridge. That heat and power is directed to the four propellers and dual-rudder system which pushes the ship forward, wind or not, in any measure of thrashing sea. No wave can toss the great weight of this ship. Its metal hull is nigh-invincible to cannon-fire at any angle. The boxes in which we fit our supplies can only be lifted by the crane on deck! This ship is virtually impervious to all forms of attack or disability. Once I present it to the World Government, a commission to create an armada of 'Naughtili' will surely come through and my name shall be made equal to _his_, bringing the pride of succession to my family and my island at last." Bard was sleeping. Too long of a monologue to stay awake through. Rez, however, managed to hone in on the keener details that Alan seemed to cross.

"If you want this ship available to everyone" Rez began "then why are you presenting it to the World Government?"

"Corruption runs eternally deep in this world" Alan said. "If a ship or two would slip into the hands of Pirates one way or another, what could I do to stop it?" There was a hint of nefarious intention to Alan's face, but Rez saw past it. He saw the raw determination that made such a distant glare, the same kind of fearsome, battle-ready glare that his fool of a captain often gave when he faced the horizon. To that, Rez grinned.

"That is a good dream" he said. "Seems sort of dangerous, in any sense, to go across this ocean alone all the way to Marineford, though. There are much worse men than us roaming the open waters, you know."

"Yeeaaaahhh" Alan said. "I guess that was just a stroke of luck. Incidentally, would you men mind escorting my ship to the nearest Marine-settled island?"

"We're pirates" Rez said, bluntly and as a pure statement of fact. After a short silence he brushed his nose and sniffed at some nasal discomfort.

"It might be a poor idea" Zan said "for us to sail into a Marine-controlled harbor. Not that we wouldn't do it, but I doubt it'd end well for us."

"Well, that's true, of course" Alan said. Bard's foot swung up and hit the table. He was only half-awake but his eyes were open enough to be conscious and aware of the situation.

"Our ship" Bard said "would get noticed a while ahead of yours. However, if you had some faithful defenders on deck with you, we could disappear from sight entirely and let you pull into whatever port it is. Then, while we dock at an unseen end of the island, my crew can disembark and gather up the guards we lent you before the Marines manage to ask any questions with the word 'pirates' in them."

"Not a bad idea, Bard" Zan said. "Depending on where we're going, that sounds like an ideal course of action."

"I'm impressed" Rez said. "We'd have to take a lot into consideration, of course, but it's perfect as a draft." Bard gave a wide grin and chuckled arrogantly.

"I always get good ideas coming out of naps!" Bard said. "Most of the time, though, it relates to training and stuff." Bard's carefree grin resonated with Alan's and they both started to laugh together. Rez and Zan grinned at their joviality as well. Bard kicked himself up with a stomp to the metal floor and rolled his shoulders back to stick out his chest. "We'll do it! However, I have some conditions that I want to address!"

"Well, hopefully they won't be unreasonable" Alan said. Rez sighed and Zan laughed his head to the side.

"First" Bard began, holding up a finger, "I want to try and flip your ship!"

"**NO!**" Rez shouted.

"Okay then" Bard said, not even allowing Alan to make the decision on his own. "Second, in addition to the proper guard to keep your ship safe, I want some minor compensation in the form of supplies." He then turned to Rez. "What are we low on?"

"You don't even know?" Rez growled. He sat up and went over his most recent list of inventory in his head. "We've eaten nothing but fish for a while and our last barrel of good pressed flour just got infested with bugs. Most of the men want more substantial meat, even if it's still fish."

"We have plenty of meat to spare" Alan said. "That will be no problem at all."

"Also" Bard said "I want one of those boxes for my own, but I want it cut in half with a huge metal bar so I can bench-press it." Rez kicked him from his seat.

"Uh, I don't think that's possible" Alan said. Zan sighed with amusement and leaned his back against the window.

"You asked for it, Sir Nepals" Zan said. "Prepare to bear witness to the staggering mind that is our Captain."

"How about a grand tour?" Bard asked.

"Oh, that'd be perfectly good of me to do" Alan said "as payment or not."

"Also, can you make my ship metal too?"

"Uh, no, that'd be fairly impossible to do."

"Make metal sails?"

"Also impossible."

"Build a man made of metal that can shoot BEAMS from his chest and breathe winds that can liquify his enemies!"

"That's just all kinds of impossible!" Such exchange continued for a while. Rez eased into it and let his rage subdue him into a lull of rest. Zan, however, kept his back to the window to measure its chill. The window itself wasn't cold as the sun was still warming the air even with the _Naughtilus_ covered by the _Imperial Dragon's_ shadow. Those chills were of his own keen awareness, a sense of danger sparking off intermittently as if an enemy was close by, constantly moving, and constantly watching...

* * *

Gazing straight out into the stretching horizon, not letting her vision stray by any measure at all, Gretta continued to hold the ship steadily sailing ahead. The _Naughtilus_ beside it continued to push along, just barely touching the hull of the _Dragon_ as Gretta kept it optimally steady. Even in her deep concentration, however, her guilt seemed to soak through and invaded her thoughts.

_How could I have been so brash?_ She thought. _Those men were unarmed when I challenged them. Is it even noble to fight those with no intention of fighting? Regardless of whether they had armed themselves or not, I victimized them thoroughly in fighting them. I suppose such a thing happens all too often in the life of a pirate, but can we as a crew accept such a thing? Bard's innocence, while annoying, resonates with a deep and noble sense of pride. He doesn't sully his hands with unwant violence at a whim. He has reason for his foolish actions, and he never thinks about death unless it is a consequence to himself. Even when he killed my father, he did so not out of any emotional __commitment but to protect all others at the expense of his own health and well-being. Am I good enough to do that? When I see an enemy that can no longer fight me, will I be able to make the right decision regarding his life? What will I do...?_

The rest of the crew continued to work as per normal. They had gotten over their depression, mostly, and were keeping track of their speed and the conditions on the opposite ship. The deck was abuzz with the regular sounds of work, yet no one managed to notice the subtle silence in the background that was often otherwise filled by something they had all come to know so well. They could hear waves crashing and birds calling and even the wind as it swept across the fine, tough wood of the deck. However, they could only hear all of that by not hearing a louder and much more obnoxious sound.

Gretta heard someone walking behind her but she kept her eyes forward. The person moved into a chair and leaned against it with a creak of its wooden frame.

"It's a nice sight, isn't it?" spoke the man in a deep, full voice. "It's such a great smell, too. The smell of the sea."

"I've gotten too used to it already" Gretta said, engaging without turning her head or eyes. "The sea seems to intrude on every aspect of life when you live on it. All our food, water and air comes from the sea somehow. It's harder to smell things other than the sea most of the time."

"But still" said the man "you can't deny that it's nice. Being able to experience something as grand as the ocean, for all of its miracles and catastrophes, makes life worth living." Gretta kept herself sealed off. She let the man enjoy himself in his basking on he Upper Deck without questioning why he wasn't working. Gretta stayed focused on the horizon where the blues met with speckled white, ignoring her company for the most part. "I wish I were alive enough to experience all of this with you guys. But then, a dead man can't take too much joy out of the world since he never opens his eyes." Gretta became stunned. She steeled her nerves to keep her head from turning but she still managed to know who was talking to her. With dark, greasy strands of hair, like thick tentacles, billowing in the tie behind his head, **'Graveshift' Maxwell** the eternal sleeper leaned back in his chair and rested his feet on the rail that surrounded the wheel of the ship.

"I have a question" Gretta began. "Just who...are you?" Maxwell smirked with his stubble-covered mouth and tilted his head back.

"An old man" Maxwell replied "who just sleeps all day long. That's who I've become..." Gretta felt tempted to turn her head and look. She had never seen him awake and was infinitely curious of so many things. She wanted to see his eyes and his grin and whatever other features she lacked seeing which produced such a handsome voice, but she forced herself to stay diligent and constant in her task to sail ahead. Instead of turning she simply grinned as she heard a deep breathing begin from Maxwell's position.

"Thank you" she said. "I'll try to appreciate this a little more because of yo-" And thus the snoring resumed, cutting Gretta off with a monstrously loud snort. She lost all emotion in an instant and glared forward with her eyes half-drawn in lost humor. More men came up to the deck and stopped around Maxwell.

"How'd he get up here?" one wondered, speaking between the loud snores.

"Hey!" Gretta shouted. "Can you put him somewhere less disruptive? Like the brig?"

"Don't be so cold!" Marco exclaimed. "This man is our hero, you know! He's like a second father or older brother to a lot of us!" Maxwell's snoring started to shake the very floor. The vibrations traveled into the wheel which shook in place from Gretta's hands. "Okay, we'll get him out of here" Marco said. He and his fellows picked up his chair and carried him away, his snoring decreasing in volume but still easily heard until he was finally taken into the Under Deck. The girl smirked and started to laugh.

"Idiots" she said, stopping herself from breaking out into full laughter. Still, she kept smiling as she stared ahead at the beautiful horizon. "I guess I couldn't ask for anything better right now..." Suddenly, more stomping came from behind Gretta, heavy and rushed. She was turned around by a gentle pull at her shoulder and saw Bard standing behind her.

"Having fun?" he asked. Gretta snapped back to the wheel and found her center of focus again, desperate to keep the ship straight. "I guess you are...weird. Anyway, if you want to apologize to Napals' crew, you don't have worry about it! The nurses fixed up all the guys you hurt, so there's no problem anymore!"

"..." Gretta remained passive and silent.

"Oh, and those guys also forgave you already" Bard said. "They said they didn't mind the pain and took it as a lesson to be more prepared. You actually helped them, showing them that they needed to be more alert and on guard while on duty!"

"..." Gretta continued to not speak.

"So if you want" Bard continued "you can stop and come onto the ship with me. I'm taking Araly, since its flat and made of metal, so she shouldn't get too seasick from walking around."

"And if she does?" Gretta asked.

"Uh" Bard began, clueless as usual. "Well, then I guess she's just cursed or something. There's got to be a ship out there that she can walk on, though. I don't believe that she can never be able to stand on any ship that sails on the sea!"

"Well, fine then" Gretta said. "I have to steer the ship, though."

"No you don't" Bard said. "We can just lock the wheel in place! Rez said so."

"You ordered me to fill in for Rez, did you not?" Gretta asked. Bard stopped himself and pressed his chin to think.

"Uh, no" he replied. "I asked you to get Rez for me. He put you in charge of steering by himself." Gretta clutched the handles of the wheel hard, though her face remained placid and devoid of expression. Bard hopped to the edge of the Upper Deck and leaned over the rail. "Hey! Someone come up here and steer! Gretta's gotta go to the other ship!"

"I've got it, Captain!" called Jacques Barbel from his position at the port-side Grand Mast. He rushed up to the helm of the deck and politely pushed Gretta aside. His grip was intense and his glare was full of raw battle-ready malevolence.

"Keep it straight" Gretta said "and slow. That's it."

"I'll do my damned best!" he exclaimed. "I'll show you all what I'm capable of! **MY STRENGTH-**"

"You're slipping" Gretta said, pointing to his hands. He panicked and re-gripped the handles. Bard locked the wheel in place using two rods that folded up from the floor and handed Jacques a chair.

"Just keep it locked, pal" Bard said. "Be at ease, unless something bad happens!"

"Aye aye!" Jacques said. He then sat, somehow intensely, behind the self-steering wheel. Gretta kept her eye on the wheel, even as she moved away from it, and looked off into the horizon. Her vision had tunneled a perfect point that extended from the bow, and now she saw it at an angle. She became amazed by her own focus and concentration and at the same time glad that she had managed to do something so great with such small effort. Then she took a deep breath in and smiled at the scent.


	110. Only by a Genius Hand

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Upon first impression, it seemed impossible. A ship made of metal, carrying such strange and heavy looking machines, could not possibly be as amazingly simple as it was made out to be. However, Araly found that it indeed was, and somehow she managed to stand upright in awe, amazed merely by her own upright standing. Somehow she could stand and walk on the boat, which was on the ocean just the same, and her seasickness didn't debilitate her.

"This is incredible!" Araly said. She moved from foot to foot in place and spun around.

"Uh, yes" Alan said. "Are we ready to start the actual tour now?" Araly turned back to the group with a start and held her hands fast together.

"Oh! Uh, yeah! Right!" She hopped over to the others, between Bard and Gretta, behind Rez and Zan, still so enthused and deeply happy at her ability to move that she couldn't help but twirl around and let her dress billow up stylishly. Alan led the group onto the crane platform and let them get an up-close look at the thing.

"This is our loading arm" Alan explained. "It can pick up and easily move a huge amount of weight. Each of these metal boxes, once completely empties, weighs around 1000lbs."

"And there's a ton of them onboard!" Araly observed. "It's amazing how this ship manages to stay afloat with all that weight!"

"It's still all imperfect technology" Alan modestly said "so I can't exactly explain it outright. It's all based on propulsion and steam-power, mainly."

"Steam?" Bard said. "I can make steam! If it's humid out and I sweat a bunch my body heats up and the cool air hits it, making steam!"

"Not really that kind of steam" Alan said.

"This ship" Zan began "runs on water."

"Oh, that makes sense" Bard said.

"Should I assume that this arm also runs on steam-power?" Zan asked as he palmed the mechanics of the great, huge thing.

"Somewhat" Alan said. "In fact, I can show you exactly what powers the appliances of this ship. Keep a sturdy foothold, everyone!" Alan nodded over to the man at the console deck. The platform was slowly lowered and the crane folded back down and slowly lowered onto the metal floor. A row of lights came on below deck and brightened the heavily mechanical setting that they were in. Shades and hues and tints of metallic iron gray and silver and polished, brassy brown were everywhere. Such things like pipes and solid steel beams that Bard and his company had only ever seen used in the most sturdy buildings or jail cells, that is what made the ship.

"AWESOME!" Bard shouted. "It's so awesome I might throw up!"

"Hurk!" Araly groaned. She was buckled over her stomach with a hand over her mouth. "Why...why now?"

"Seems your seasickness returned" Gretta said. "It must have missed you."

"Hatred!" Araly exclaimed. "Why do I feel so sick all of a sudden? I was fine up on deck! What's different?"

"Direct sunlight?" Rez said. "Maybe that's it."

"I don't think that affects seasickness" Alan said. "It might have been the movement of the platform that upset your stomach. Does your ship tend to rock and move a lot when you're out at sea?" Araly nodded.

"Well, it's got a lot to it" Bard said, half-bragging. "A ship that huge would get hit by any wave, large or small, and because of its top-heavy design it would have to move to the sway of nearly any current."

"Then there's your problem" Alan said. "This ship is the opposite: It never moves, regardless of the waves that hit it, because of its mass and weight. Most of the ship is, in fact, under the surface of the water and cannot dock in shallow water because of that fact. It's designed exclusively as a cargo transport ship, therefore every end and panel of it contributes to its design of being virtually unshakable in stormy weather or on unsettling seas." Araly's safe sense of balance and wellness returned soon and she pushed herself away from the cold metal rail she had been leaning against.

"I wish our ship was like that" Araly said.

"Let's continue to the engine room" Alan said. He led the group through the many walkway halls without walls where they could see men going about and working on pipes and valves and various measuring instruments which kept track of the pressure as the heated water raced through the pipes all throughout the ship. Araly couldn't help but be amazed by the inherent mechanical complexities that seemed to be going straight over Bard's head.

"You know what this place needs?" Bard said. "It needs a gym. A huge gym with a whole quarter-mile track! And a rock-climbing wall!"

_What a one-track mind_ Araly thought. _But, it's nice to be included with him for once. I'm usually in that room reading. Now I feel like a bookworm, being out for the first time in so long. I missed this._ Alan brought the group to a dead-end wall with a single bolted doorway closed before them. 'WARNING: FIRE' it read quite plainly. Alan approached it and shied away a little as it was hot.

"We're not in any danger are we?" Rez asked.

"Oh, no" Alan said. "Not so long as you stay away from the furnaces, that is." Alan put on a pair of insulated gloves and turned open the valve that sealed the room shut. As the door opened a wave of heat hit the pirates face-on. Araly felt so overwhelmed that she nearly fell over and Gretta's hair had exploded into a dense, fuzzy afro, much to her chagrin.

"This doesn't bode well" Gretta said as she felt her hair. Rez took one look and turned back around with his lips folded and pressed hard between his teeth. Zan ignored it for her sake. Bard, however, was himself.

"Nice hair!" he shouted powerfully. "You look like you could fight someone with hair like that!"

_Quit kicking the dog_ Rez thought. They entered together onto a broad walkway overlooking a row of open, enormous fire pits. Five men, huddled together, endured the blasting heat of each furnace far below and shoveled fuel from a mountainous pile behind with the rhythmic hissing of a loud pump above their furnace. These teams were dressed in black suits with gas-masks connected to emergency air-supplies on their backs. Those tanks of air were enclosed inside heavy insulated packs to keep from being overheated, else they could explode.

"Those men down there" Alan began "are prisoners from the infamous Impel Down, all recruited on leave from the warden and granted authority by the upper-brass of the Marines to work on this ship as a substitute for their sentence. They are surprisingly loyal and tough, as they had long endured the torturous heat of the 'Inferno Hell' in the legendary prison."

"That's quite a scary crew you've got" Zan said. "What keeps them in line?"

"Their life is in my hands" Alan said. "With those suits, anyone with adequate strength could do their job. The fact that they know how replaceable they are is what seems to keep them going. Plus, I'm at least a fine enough leader not to threaten them constantly. They're people, just like us, but who have committed such acts that others would disagree..."

"What an admirable cause" Zan said. "And this powers the ship?"

"The heat of each furnace leads to an engine on the floor above" Alan said. "Those engines take the water directly from the sea and boil it, spreading the steam-pressure through the pipes of the whole ship. The salt that remains is taken out of the engines three times a day and stored for later use. It can be very effective in the manufacturing of Sea Stone weaponry, highly durable and effective against Devil Fruit users such as yourself."

"You've got quite the operation on this ship" Zan said. "It's more like a floating factory, the more I get to look at it."

"Hooooooooot" Bard moaned. He slouched down so far that he became shorter than everyone else. "I'm sweating all of my skin off."

"It's pretty damn hot" Rez said, enduring it casually. "Can we wrap this up yet?"

"Of course" Alan said. "There's just one last thing I'd like to show you all. It's a revolutionary devise that powers all of the major equipment, above and below the deck." He led them on again, back into the comparably cooler halls of the ship. When they finally arrived some time later, Gretta's hair had fallen back down but was a dense and tangled thickness knotted around her head.

"I don't like this place" she said outright. Alan opened another door, one with a warning of 'SHOCK' on it, and led the group inside. Within was a spacious room with a cool, aqua-blue hue and rows of metal boxes below the elevated walkway. Alan walked the group into the middle of the room and held out his arms.

"Though rudimentary in design" Alan began "this is perhaps the most advanced technology currently sailing on the seas!" The group looked around at the walls. They were clear and blue and hazy with a whiteish mist. Water thick with salt was held behind the walls, and within that water swam lithe and long beasts with glowing eyes and sharp rows of teeth. "This is the electric engine, harnessing the natural discharge of hundreds of Lightning Eels to power the lights, loading arm and ballast anchors of the ship! The extra salt boiled from the main engines is dumped into the water to add to the conductivity of their currents as they feed their power to the _Naughtilus!_ This entire ship is centered around the harnessing of nature's own power! Even if I am no genius by my island's high standards, **this machine alone is truly something brilliant to behold!**"

"Yes" Zan said, finally embracing the wild awe of the sight. "Yes, it is..." Hundreds of ribbon-like shadows swam through the water, crackling with pure energy which flashed from the salty clouds like bolts of lightning. Their shrieking roars were calls of thunder and the ocean-blue an endless sky. The group couldn't help but feel completely moved by the sight, and seeing its features working already simply added to its amazing power.

"Now, about that gym..." Bard went on, already over the sight.

"Shut up about that crap!" Rez growled, giving Bard a stern chop to his gut.

* * *

Once the tour was over and the sky began to take on a deeper, twilight color, the crews of both ships worked hard together to get the promised supplies from the _Naughtilus_ onto the towering deck of the _Imperial Dragon._ Under self-supervision, the Buster Pirates had managed to rig up a pulley system from the uppermost cannon-deck out of steel-bound ropes they had found. The strongest men, as were chosen by the earlier tournament, combined their strength to pull the ropes and rise the heavy metal crates one at a time. Once they reached the highest possible distance from deck to deck, the lower cannon-deck opened itself with gang-planks out and the hull completely folded down like winch-drawn doors. The crates were lowered onto that extended deck, emptied and then carefully lowered back down to the _Naughtilus._

The entire process was executed flawlessly, and while both ships were still moving ahead. Rez scoped out the ocean and sky from the vantage of the observation deck of the _Naughtilus'_s bridge and saw a thick gathering of clouds some distance off that passed behind the mountain of a ship and out of sight. Behind them seemed to be a storm slowly crawling their way. He ran to the hatch and climbed down into the interior of the bridge to report it. Inside he saw Gretta talking to the sailors she had nearly slaughtered as the nurses gathered up their instruments and gathered around her.

"Hey, Gretta" Rez called. "Looks like we've got some rough seas coming in. Pack up and head for the ship, alright?"

"I'll be along in a moment" she said. Rez nodded and continued to descend. "Again, please accept my apologies" she said to the sailors.

"Um, we do" the front-most standing man said. "After all, you were just, uh...confused. And that's fine."

"We were surprised to have been beaten, honestly" another man said. "You don't see women skilled with swords all too often." Gretta picked herself up and stared their way, her red eyes beaming distrust and discomfort straight into their heads.

"Well please keep training" she said in a humble and dignified tone. "We girls do exist who take pleasure in swinging our swords. Don't be so off-guard the next time one of us comes around." The men all nodded nervously and Gretta left with her group of face-hidden nurses. The men all sighed with relief when she had gone, like an impossible burden was suddenly lifted.

Out on the deck, Bard and Zan aided in getting the heavy metal boxes strapped up and ready for lifting. Zan did so by melding his way along the surface of the boxes while Bard tried to lift them up to get the ropes secure underneath. The loading arm, operated by its regular crew, helped as well even though the boxes were positioned at its highest reaching limits.

"Is this the last one?" Bard asked.

"Seems like it" Zan said. "We're not getting too much, keep in mind. Just enough to keep ourselves up and going."

"I still wish we could have kept haggling" Bard said with a strain as he lifted a corner up with the aid of the crane. "I feel like we could have gotten more!"

"These are officially Marine supplies" Zan said. "We're stealing more than any other group of pirates would if they encountered this ship."

"Well, it's not stealing if we're permitted to do it" Bard argued. All of the boxes could only be opened by the specifically engineered crowbars that Alan had designed in conjunction with the boxes. The pirates receiving each crate up above had received those crowbars so they could easily open them, extract the supplies and then close them back up.

"We could have used a box or two, though!" Bard grunted as the box was lifted slowly up by his strength.

"What for?" Zan asked. As the last box was slowly pulled up, Zan and Bard watched on in pride. Their efforts allowed the crew just enough extra equipment to satisfy whatever wanting they could have had in their days of sailing to come.

"Hey!" Rez shouted from the deck. Zan and Bard turned around to see him with a few of the on-hand men of Nepals' crew. "We've got weather coming! Get back to the ship!"

"What kind of weather?" Bard shouted.

"If you have to ask" Zan said "then it can't be good. By default, reporting 'weather' on the Grand Line is meant to be something bad."

"Oh, I understand" Bard said. "Well, we can leave Araly here, if she wants, since she seems to enjoy it."

"Are you positive about that?" Zan asked.

"Well, I already asked her" Bard said. "She said she wants to walk around a little bit longer before she has to come back. I can't blame her, exactly, so I agreed. Alan's okay with it too!"

_Hmm_ Zan thought, _I haven't felt that same indistinguishable presence for quite a while. Whatever it was must have vanished already, or perhaps it was just the dread of amazement that I felt when I saw all that technology for the first time up close...no, that wasn't it. But whatever it was, it's completely gone now. I'm sure of it..._

Up on the deck the men worked away, keeping the ship's lean in check as the boxes were hauled up and down. The ship's course stayed perfectly constant and stayed side-by-side with the _Naughtilus._ Everything went smoothly for about as long as it possibly could. Then, from the Under Deck, a mysterious pair of hands moved in the darkness and opened a door. Positioned directly under the helm and attached to the same rigging as the wheel above was the Whip Staff, which stayed static in its position just as the wheel up above. The hands grabbed the staff and suddenly yanked it to the side. Up above, Jacques saw the wheel start to move and grabbed it with all his strength.

"Did I just imagine that?" he wondered. Then, quite suddenly, the port-side Support Sails unfolded and caught the wind. The ship started turning to the right with the _Naughtilus_ still close along its starboard side! A collision seemed eminent until Jacques Barbell, strongest of the crew, took the wheel out of its lock and forced it full to port, straightening the ship out with little more than a quick shaking. The metal box suspended by tightly-held ropes was swung by the sudden jerking and hit against the hull with a loud thud.

"Something's up" Zan said. "Captain, get on deck ASAP."

"Oh, yeah" Bard lowed. He crouched down low and jumped up as high as he could. Once he reached the peak of his jump he tucked his legs up and tensed his kicking muscles to their maximum. "**GEPPOU!**" He jumped on the air, following puffy, bursting clouds from his feet as he jumped his way back onto the deck.

"What the hell just happened?" Rez shouted.

_I wasn't wrong_ Zan thought. _It seems we're under attack already!_ Zan jumped from the _Naughtilus_ to the now faster-moving hull of the Dragon. He just barely caught it, mere feet from the water, and started climbing up with his hands and feet half-melded with the wood as he went.

"Their ship is going faster now" a crewman simply observed.

"Are they stealing that crate?" another exclaimed.

"They aren't doing this on purpose" Rez said. "Something's up. The ship turned to suddenly for this to just be a wave or a current surge. The crew isn't so incompetent as to screw with the ship in such a delicate procedure. Something's _wrong!_ **AND DAMMIT, I'M STUCK HERE WHILE IT'S HAPPENING!**"

"You don't have to shout" the crewmen said. Up on the _Dragon_, the effects already began. The waves became audible again and the wind started to pick up slowly.

"Get that sail down!" Jacques shouted over the deck. The pirates raced to the Under Deck to get to the mechanism which controlled the wing sails. On arrival, it had been visibly tampered with and corrected on the fly. Jacques straightened the wheel back out as the ship slowed down again. Bard rushed to the helm immediately when he had arrived.

"Status, helmsman" he said.

"Seems like someone's screwing around down below" Jacques said. His hands suddenly slipped as the wheel started to turn on its own. He took hold of it and corrected it before the course they were on was too far flawed. "And they're still at it!" he lowed. Bard rushed for the door to the Under Deck and dashed down to the Whip Staff room. It was empty, but it was obvious that someone had been inside. He turned around and was quickly consumed by a dark, menacing grip...

Zan, meanwhile, made his way to the cannon-deck that had been opened up to get the last crate.

"What's going on?" Zan asked. "Why is the ship moving?"

"The ship moved?" a pirate asked.

"I felt that too" another remarked "but didn't think much of it."

"Get this last crate unloaded on the double" Zan said "and get everything into storage. Triple-check the bindings to keep them in place, we're storm-bound." Zan ran off and jumped through the floor and up a level. He continued running, unimpeded by the walls and beams, all the way to the Under Deck where he found Bard face-down and cloak removed. "Captain! What happened?" Bard groaned and pushed himself up.

"It's gone up top" he said. "It took my coat, too."

"What was it?" Zan asked. Bard smirked and glared up. He picked himself up and rolled his shoulders, combat ready and furious. His face was marked with five straight scratch-marks reaching from temple to jaw.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you..." he lowed. Zan looked confused but eager to follow. He and Bard rushed for the deck after their unknown threat.

* * *

The panic soon reached down to the _Naughtilus._ The crew moved quickly to secure the last of the boxes as it was dropped down from far off of its original position. They undid the ropes and let it crash down onto the deck, uneven and unrestrained but just within reach of the crane. Inside the bridge Rez and Alan stood with Araly and Gretta close by.

"We're going to have to move away from the _Dragon_" Alan said. "Whatever is happening, it's simply too risky to stay side-by-side any longer."

"Right" Rez said. Alan pointed to a man sitting behind a console. The man faced three levers. He pulled down the larger middle one and then rose the other two up by two clicks.

"We're reducing speed" Alan said "and pulling off to the side to let them pass us. We can keep up at a safe distance with them and hail them to slow down later."

"Sounds like a plan" Rez said. "Araly, Gretta, are you two okay with this?"

"Well, we're alright, aren't we?" Araly said.

"I'm not" Gretta said. "I'd much rather be with the captain right now."

"Well, don't worry about Bard" Araly said. "He may be an idiot, but he tends to come through in the end."

"That's not it" Gretta said. "I'm fully aware that Bard has the fullest possible credential to act as our captain..." Rez growled a little at her remark. "...however, by not being there, I can't help but feel useless. Not being able to help, being so far left out of the action, if there is any. It makes me feel abandoned, honestly." Gretta hushed herself as more men arrived to take command of the ship.

"Lower the crane" Alan commanded. "We can't let the rain get to it."

"What can we do?" Rez asked.

"Nothing, presently" Alan said. "I appreciate the thought, for what it counts."

"No, I understand" Rez said. "Our ship is much more different than your ship. In fact, before seeing your ship, we were sure ours was the most intricate and advanced thing on the ocean. Heh, you taught us something."

"Did I?" Alan asked excitedly.

"We should never be too proud" Rez said. "Someone better than us will always be out there. In terms of our ship, there's not much to be done about that. We can add more cannons, configure a few things or rearange rooms here and there, but none of us are professional engineers. None of us could rebuild the ship from ground-up with all of its insane parts and contrived mechanics. The best we could do is patch it together and hope someone better comes along who has the mercy to help us out."

"You're sailing without a proper shipwright?" Alan said in shock. "That's just...ludicrous!"

"We have shipwrights on board" Rez said "but that ship is a one-of-a-kind thing. It's got hidden rooms, pulleys and levers below deck to control the sails, and beyond that it's immense. Even if we were all shipwrights, do you think we could manage that ship like a _genius_ could?" Araly snapped to attention. She saw what Rez was attempting to do, speaking directly to Alan in that way. His suggestions weren't passing through as idle chatter. She could see, by the strain and confusion befalling the young captain, **he was seriously considering joining the crew!** Even if she wanted to, Araly knew she couldn't do that. Rez walked off and sat with Araly and Gretta at their table. He turned his chair around and watched the crew work from their consoles as they manipulated far-distant parts of the ship while sitting down.

"Orders, captain?" a man asked. Alan took his hand to his chin and slowed his mind from its aching, racing thoughts.

"Maintain sight of the _Imperial Dragon_" he ordered. "Keep it within the sonar screen. Monitor engine levels and keep the pipes all warm. Stand by for emergency maneuvering. We have an unsecured crate on deck right now so move a crew down to push it into place for the emergency locking system to grab it."

"How can that crate be moved across the deck?" a man asked.

"The rain's going to help us with that" Alan said. He turned to the pirates seated behind him and gave them a very confident nod. "Worry not. This ship has easily been through worse than a simple storm. I'll see you all off on your own ship in no time at all."

"Take you time" Araly said as she stretched out. "I'm all for staying here a while longer."

"We trust you" Rez said. "You're the Captain, after all. Who else are we going to trust?" Alan grinned and nodded. What chance Rez had made seemed to slip away, had that been his intention.

_Be confident, Alan Nepals_ Rez thought. _You're too modest of a man. Genius designs don't come to average men. Only a genius like you could have made this ship real. Accept that and live with it, pal._ The ships finally entered the storm, moving in from who-knows-where with ship-shaking strength. Waves crashed into the wooden hull of the _Dragon_, and those same waves were already broken once they rolled their way to the _Naughtilus._ Such was the role of a protector, that even under attack they could manage to defend with their lives those who trusted in them...

And the Buster Pirates were certainly under attack...


	111. Battle aboard the Imperial Dragon!

Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.

* * *

Panic aboard the _Imperial Dragon!_ An unknown intruder infiltrates and causes chaos! How shall the Buster Pirate Crew respond? With **VIOLENCE!**

"Watch yourselves!" shouted Marco, at the head of the swarm of burly men equipped for war. "We don't know what kind of enemy we're about to deal with! For all we know, it could be some kind of super-powered bastard or a maniacal reformed criminal with a dark and mysterious past, come to exact vague vengeance on all pirates for...stuff...Damn, lost my steam for a second there."

"You shouldn't have started to begin with!" a man called. The door they faced buckled. The entire crew tensed up, girded their loins and prepared to face the oncoming battle. The door buckled a second time. From the wall beside it fazed out Zan, who seemed to be in a hot retreat just then. Zan saw the company just as the door was blasted open with a powerful, forward kick.

"Attack!" Marco called. Zan dashed in front of them and held out an open palm to stop them. The stampede ceased and many pirates fell into each other, leaving Marco as the only one standing after the too-sudden halt. Bard stepped out from the burst-open doorway, without his jacket and in a frantic search all around the deck of the ship.

"It's gone" Bard said. "Dammit, how'd it outrun us?"

"I never thought I'd see the day, captain" Zan admitted. "I've known about such creatures to exist in this world, but honestly, I never thought I'd live to see something like this."

"Where'd it come from?" Bard wondered aloud.

"The other ship" Zan said. "I had a feeling that something dangerous was there when I investigated it."

"Hey" Marco said, grabbing their attention. "Captain, what are we up against?" The pirate legion behind him started to rise up at last, still battle-ready with a blazing determination glaring through all of their eyes.

"We'll fight a Sea King bare-handed if you order us!" a man shouted. "Just bring it on!"

"Well that's cool" Bard said, "but this is something different. We can fight a Sea King tomorrow!" Bard pumped up his fist at the idea, forcing a joyous roar out of his easily-enthused men. Zan took Marco aside to explain the situation.

"It's a creature from the **New World** portion of the sea" Zan explained. Marco's eyes went wide and his lips pursed in at the sheer terror.

"Are we...in danger?" he asked in fright.

"None too bad" Zan said. "If anything we're just set to face a significant annoyance in terms of sabotage. It was down in the Underdeck screwing around with stuff while the cargo was loaded. I imagine it came in on one of the crates."

"We should have seen it, then" Marco said.

"Not this thing" Zan replied. "I'd be completely surprised if any of us had seen this coming at all..." Bard was still rallying his troops, pumping his fist and leading a wordless chant.

"Uoh!"

"**UOH!"**

"Hoo-ah!"

"**HOO-AH!"**

"YO-HO!"

"**YO-HO-HOOO!"**

"Bard!" Zan exclaimed. "Enough of that! You stay here with the men and cover the deck in case it shows up. I'll climb up the masts and see if it's up there."

"Alright then" Bard said, suddenly serious once more. "I'll trust you with that." Zan nodded and sped away, moving through the crowd like a breeze and reaching the nearest Grand Mast in little time, his motions as fluid as the ocean currents. Expected behavior from an assassin like Zan, especially in such an intense battle. "We can't get too far from the _Naughtilus!_ Reduce speed as much as possible! Make sure they can catch up to us when we give an all-clear signal!"

"Aye aye!" a group of men shouted. They dropped what weapons they had and went across the deck to secure the sail and to the aft to lower the anchors.

"Everyone else stay on guard!" Bard commanded. "If I see it I'll point it out. It's wearing my coat, so look for the black and gold!"

"We've got a storm incoming, sir" a pirate called from within the flank. "I'd say it's no more than ten minutes off, so give or take considering the sea, we could be fighting a battle in the midst of a storm!"

"We'll figure that out when we need to" Bard said. "Just stay on guard for now! Make sure you try not to damage the ship! Aim away from secured ropes and use your sword before your gun! Most importantly, only shoot it in the open. Do not shoot each other, not even accidentally! If you're not sure, don't fire!"

"We may as well just stow the guns, men" Marco said. "This thing, whatever it is, is from **The New World.** Fighting it may not even _be_ an option."

"Cram it, old-guy!" an upstart muscle-head shouted. "It's not impossible until we _know_ it's impossible, and so far we don't!"

"Yeah!" called out another pirate. "Don't be such an ass, Marco!"

"Right, right" Marco said. "Just be careful. That's all I'm saying."

"Alright, spread out!" Bard shouted. The pirate group spread apart across the whole deck, keeping keen eyes on every flat surface for inexplicable movement. From the bow to the aft and all the port and starboard sides were covered with glancing, scanning eyes, waiting to catch a glimpse of the mystery foe. At the middle of the deck, cracking his knuckles, was Bard, more stern and attentive then he'd been seen to be on his own ship before. Zan, upon reaching the highest point of the ship's mighty masts, toed the line of iron-tough rope while carefully scanning things below. The Grand Sail beneath his feet, bound up tightly and pushed together. Zan looked from crow's nest to crow's nest and at the top of each mast's end where the flags had been planted. Neither was out of place. Both black cloths billowed in the gathering winds as normal, carried into waving motions with the golden dragon's skull on proud display.

One flag, however, seemed off the more Zan stared it down. Finally he realized the shocking truth of his discovery: It was no flag, as the emblem blew sideways. Just as Zan realized that, the object holding the billowing began to reconfigure its own form. It was no longer a pole. It had depth, form, muscle, **fur...a tail too**.

"So there it is" Zan said. He turned his head down to the deck to call to his comrades. The figure made a dashing leap his way and stopped him from making his call. They locked arms together, Zan without his blades, held his foe off enough to push away and faced him down on the thin length of rope, neither giving way to the terrifying height or to the waver of balance in the wind and force of their own moving bodies. Zan tried to keep his guard up while his opponent only stood, Bard's coat wrapped around its face like a muffler, with feet in perfect balance across the tiny platform they had to use.

_I'm not getting out of this easily_ Zan thought. _I need to alert them to its presence somehow, though..._ Zan very carefully unsheathed one of his hand-blades and made a rush at the enemy. It stood steadfast, unwavering and undaunted by his sudden rush and when Zan was close enough to punch his blade in with a slash the enemy let it happen, jumped over Zan's arm and landed behind him on the taut rope. Zan smirked and dropped the blade from his intentionally loose grip and let it fall straight down.

_Hope that doesn't kill anyone..._ Zan thought. He turned to face his foe again and blocked a sudden series of blows. He leaned back from the punches, blocked kicks and somehow kept himself in perfect balance on top of the small rope. As he dodged and blocked the mystery-foe's offense, his knife landed point-down into the butt of a sword sheathed across a pirate's back. He scratched his head at the strange, sudden sensation but ultimately dismissed it and walked into Bard's path.

"Hey" Bard called, stopping everyone around him. He walked to the man with the blade in his sword and unsheathed it partly, enough so he could see it without taking it out of its full sheathe. "What's this?"

"Looks like Zan's blade" the pirate said. He and Bard glanced at each other, meeting eyes as if they were comparing their sudden idea. Then, along with most of the other pirates nearby, they looked straight up and saw two shadows set against a distant, dark sky, somehow still standing out against the rolling incoming storm clouds.

"Zan!" Bard shouted.

"He's fighting it!" another pirate exclaimed. Bard bent his knees down low and poised himself on the balls of his booted feet. The wood beneath him gave a light creak as all his weight came down on such a narrow point.

"Gep**POU!**" Bard jumped, leaving a ring of cloudy dust where his feet left the deck and went straight up, reaching just above the halfway mark between the masts. "Hang on, Zan! I'll deal with this prick too!" Bard jumped up again, going right out of sight, leaving his crew behind below...

* * *

Up on the mast Zan continued to hold off the creature. He was pushed back and assaulted by a rapid-fire succession of kicks, punches, chops and mid-jump attacks covered by a sweep of Bard's own cloak. Zan kept himself unarmed to fight the creature on equal terms but started to waver against his foe as he was drawn closer and closer to the most imbalanced part of the rope he cautiously edged himself on. The middle, where all the weight was hung, was where he and his enemy were headed, though only he seemed to worry. His shadow-clad foe was simply taking advantage of the situation.

Zan blocked both of its fists and pushed them apart, opening its guard and fully exposing its chest. Without a second of hesitation Zan ducked forward and thrust his hand at its chest, intending to meld through the skin and stab with an internal injury to turn the favor of the fight. His foe's knee jabbed up and met his unprepared wrist, jarring it into his own hand numbing over. Then the enemy crouched down and jumped up with the tension of the rope to give Zan a powerful kick. Zan flew back, unevenly and almost sure to fall, but clutched the rope with his still-good hand and forced himself to meld to it, just enough to stay on.

_This is getting bad_ Zan thought. _This damn thing is strong, just as strong as I'd suspect a creature from the New World to be!_ The enemy walked forward. Its eyes were shining out from under its shadowed brow, half-drawn down in a combative sternness. Zan pushed himself up and held his good hand up, keeping the injured one back as it shook involuntarily from the pain. _I'll keep fighting. I'm a pirate, and above that I'm a man! My pride won't let me concede myself to a-_

"**ORYAAAH!**" roared Bard, jumping into scene between the two. He kicked a miss and forced the enemy to retreat in an incredibly long jump backwards that let it reach safety atop the crow's nest behind. Bard grabbed onto the rope and pulled himself up to meet Zan. "You alright?"

"He's a crafty one" Zan said. "I tried using a Phantom Grip on it but it got my wrist before I could get close enough."

"I thought you were great at close-quarters combat" Bard said.

"Assassinations rarely entail full-force combat, Bard" Zan said. "Can you take over from here? Get it on equal ground?"

"Oh yeah" Bard said. "That thing has my coat, too. I'm not forgiving it easily." Bard pulled himself up and stood on the rope. He immediately started falling backwards and punched forward to keep himself on his feet. Then he drifted too far to the other side and started waving his arms. He shouted and hunched down, gripping the rope with both hands and feet close together. Zan seemed unamused.

"Don't try too hard, Bard" Zan said. "Rope-walking is a delicate skill."

"Ehhh..." Bard groaned. "Well, never mind that for now. Get to the Underdeck."

"What for?" Zan asked.

"I have a plan" Bard said. Through sheer will and force he managed to stand up and keep his balance. His feet rocked to and fro as they slid apart slowly and he took a threatening pose. "An _awesome_ plan." Zan just nodded and fled. Bard remained to fight the creature, which came rushing at him from far across the narrow rope they stayed on. Bard couldn't see its hands or arms in the dark cloak that billowed around it. Its feet were moving so fast Bard could only make out the speeding lines that they seemed to follow in their almost unconscious motions. He could, however, see the creature's eyes and grinned as he prepared his defenses.

Zan, meanwhile, melded his way from the starboard Grand Mast all the way down to the Main Deck where the pirates were anxiously watching high up where they couldn't see.

"They're fighting!" a man called.

"You sure?" another asked. "That could just be a cloud."

"Zan, what is it?" Marco asked. Zan shook his wrist and began to descend through the floor.

"Bard has a plan" he said, placing priority on the fight rather than answering Marco. "Get to the Underdeck."

"Captain's orders are we fight" Marco replied. "We'll stay here unless he says otherwise."

"Alright" Zan said. "Just don't go in any strange rooms for now, okay?"

"Got it" Marco said. Zan fazed through the floor, leaving the pirates on their own. The storm was quickly approaching. Waves started to smash against the hull of the ship and rock the mighty craft in its glide across the ocean water. One pirate managed to get a telescope to watch the fight with but couldn't follow the fast-paced movements with his shaky hands guiding the delicate instrument.

"Looks like they _are_ fighting" he said. "Bard's throwing lots of punches."

"Is he winning? Is he winning?" the pirates exclaimed.

"No, the other guy is just walking away from him" the pirate said. "Wait, he attacked! Oh, he got Bard right in the face!"

"No!" the pirates shouted.

"He tried again!" the narrator exclaimed. "Bard caught his hand and spun him right off the rope!"

"**YEAAAAHHH!**" cheered the crew.

"Wait, he got back up!" the man said. The crew stopped their cheering and grunted in a curious unison. "He somehow grabbed onto the rope before he flew off! Wait...He's back up! Bard's starting to fall!" A brief moment of extreme tension lapsed as the announcer seemed too shocked to possibly continue. Then he turned tail and ran. "Here he comes! **Get outta the way!**" The men, being the lumber burly fools that they were, first looked up to see that Bard was indeed in mid-tumble with his enemy close behind him in a more graceful and controlled fall. The men scattered from the surrounding area and cleared a good path for Bard to land. Their captain didn't disappoint. He blasted out a Geppou just before impact which kicked out a strong gust that swept across the deck and hit the pirates all back a step. Then he landed, both arms forward with tight fists, standing with his right leg leading. His enemy landed with a solid thud in a crouch and slowly rose up from it, unharmed from the distance it had fallen.

"Heh" Bard grunted as he stretched a slight grin from his clenched jaw. "As expected from a creature like that..."

"Captain Bard!" Marco shouted from the helm. "What is that thing?" The men surrounded them both with a respectable circle open for them to fight in. The last bit of sunlight finally left as the dark clouds covered the horizon, leaving only a dark blue remnant of the sunny sky above the ship while surrounding the floating fortress with battering waves and a churning, chaotic current. A sudden calm settled over the ship as thunder came rolling in from the distance.

"Hehehe" Bard laughed, low and in a threatening tone. "If I'd ever heard that animals like this really existed in this world, I would have made it my greatest dream to fight one of them! This is like destiny, I think, a calling from the world itself telling me to push forward and become stronger! It throws this creature at me as a test, one that I'll pass with **flying colors!**"

Indeed, in the Grand Line there are a variety of amazing creatures. Giant serpents that roam the seas, enormous desert crabs, ten-story-tall birds with feathers large enough to build small ships on; the creatures of the world are as varied as they are amazing and mystical. This holds even truer in the latter half of the world's mightiest ocean, The New World, where there are no pirates that are simply strong. 'Strong' there is a minimum standard, but 'exceptionally strong' or 'amazingly superhuman' is enough to pass one through the first length of time. The creatures reflect such levels of strength and have as such grown to be either ship-swallowing behemoths that defy all logic with a passion, or beasts that in a more perfect unity could easily overthrow _humanity itself_ as a dominant species regardless of their island setting.

In the Grand Line such an animal rivals even the strongest and most cunning of men. On an island that most men don't know, one that even Marines don't frequent when they patrol into the lawless New World, an entire society of creatures exists that breaks the wall separating humanity and animals entirely. An entire civilization with no language but mutual understanding, no sport but survival, an industry of agriculture. Indeed, a truly amazing spectacle of evolution merely previewed in the Grand Line by some of the comparatively stupider colonies of sophisticated or talking animals.

This creature was such a beast that it was hard to tell it apart from any normal man until one would see it in full as the Buster Pirates had. Clad in black cloth shoddily patched together, or likely stolen from another that fit it better, this primal beast stood nearly as tall as Bard and with a thin layer of fur lining most of its body it seemed to have near his own girth in proportion. Head to foot there was hair, but not on the palms, abdomen of the nose, ears and lips of the beast. It was all an autumn shade of light-brown. It's tail whipped around in an alert state like a separate guarding arm, in complete control by the creature's will. Its feet were exposed, **though they were more like palms than feet, even with prehensile thumbs.** Over its neck it wore its gilded trophy, Bard's cloak, stolen in the brief scuffle it had with the young man to conceal the rest of its appearance. It could only be described, in its style of subtle infiltration and high-speed close-quarters combat and in its obvious appearance as simply the coolest possible thing to be on the ocean on any given point.

Bard had squared himself up to fight a _**NINJA MONKEY**_. And he was happy.

* * *

"A _**Ninja Monkey?**_" a pirate curiously pointed out. "Isn't that a bit...uh..."

"Awesome?" Bard said enthusiastically.

"Not awesome..." the pirate said. "I mean...that's just so damn **random! **Why is it here?"

"It was on the _Naughtilus_ before" Bard said. "It must have been accidentally captured by Alan, or it purposely stowed away on some kind of secret mission. A secret _**monkey mission.**_"

"I find this all to be a bit too absurd" a man said. He sheathed his sword and rolled his neck. "Farewell, comrades. I'm going to bed."

"But it's a _**ninja monkey!**_" one comrade exclaimed in sheer awe. "How often can you tell people that you got to fight a _**ninja monkey?**_"

"Stop enunciating it" the man said. "Aside from being completely outclassed I don't want to fight something as ridiculous as-" His jaw was forced significantly to the left as the Ninja Monkey delivered a warp-speed punch to his face. The man rolled across the entire expanse of the deck and smashed open the door into the room where Maxwell had been stored. He nearly collided with the comatose pirate when a sudden instinctive drive forced Maxwell to smash him to the side with his shovel, cleaning knocking him out of consciousness against a broken empty crate. The Ninja Monkey was stopped amidst the crowd of pirates, all of whom were stricken with such shock from the complete suddenness of the attack that they couldn't move. The Monkey turned as a fast stomping neared it from behind. It brought up its arms to guard and had both of its wrists grabbed by Bard who tossed him clear over his head and back into the cleared area, right where he had been standing just earlier.

"That was a cheap shot!" Bard exclaimed. "I'll admit, he kinda had it coming, but nobody screws with my crew!"

"**YEAH!**" replied the crew.

"Come on!" Bard shouted, striking his pose. "Let's go! You and me, alone!" The Monkey stood in silence for a moment. Its apish face was cast in a perpetual battle-ready glare with a stoic frown across its monkey mouth. It pushed aside Bard's cloak, which draped over its left arm, to reveal a metal plate of smooth armor on its upper arm. Along the side were etched the letters spelling a name, going from top to bottom. It showed Bard the armor plainly and let him read it.

SA  
RU  
TO  
BI

"**Sarutobi...**eh?" Bard said. "So you have a name..." Bard's intense stance, his piercing glare and intimidating grin, all broke when he brought his hands up together and grinned with a face-stretching smile and sparkling eyes. **"THAT'S EVEN COOLER! IT'S BEYOND COOOOOL!**"

"We get it, captain" a pirate said awkwardly. "I mean...it's cool, but it's dangerous too, right?" Sarutobi covered its arm once more and replaced the name etched in metal with the upside down emblem of Bard's crew. Bard resumed his fighting pose and met Sarutobi's glare with a white-hot counter-intensity. A spark flew between them, flashing the signal to begin their fight. Bard rushed in and Sarutobi seemingly teleported beside him with arm already wound back. He stabbed his hand with tense, straight finger's at Bard's side, but missed.

"Whoosh!" Bard shouted. He appeared at Sarutobi's opposite, unguarded side and grabbed him by the short hairs of his head. Bard threw the monkey clear over the crowd of pirates. While in the air Sarutobi forced himself into a constant spinning backflip to coast easily through the wind and landed in three-consecutive backflips. Once on proper footing Sarutobi resumed his fighting pose and saw Bard rush almost invisibly across the deck and through his own crew of men to meet fist-to-fist. Bard grabbed Sarutobi's left wrist while Sarutobi caught Bard's right fist in mid-punch, forcing them both into a stalemate. "This is easily the best day of my life!" Bard cheered. He kicked into Sarutobi's side, forcing the Ninja Monkey to flinch and retreat a step. Bard repeated, jabbing with his knee as fast as he could, until Sarutobi countered by slamming knee into knee. Bard then pushed him away and threw a quick combo of jabs and straight punches. He ended with a hook, which Sarutobi ducked completely under. The monkey used his tail to hook Bard's ankle and yanked him clear off his feet. Bard kicked his leg up as he fell and forced himself out of Sarutobi's lock, landing in a short backflip back on his feet with fists balled up again. As soon as he was standing Sarutobi rushed in and jabbed straight-fingered hands at warp-speed. Bard edged himself away from the blows but was soon encompassed by a cloud of brown moving lines.

"Tekkai!" Bard shouted. His body hardened to receive the blows, but even with muscles hardened into iron he could feel the powerful impacts hitting him. Sarutobi continued until Bard's skin had been hit with shallow cut marks, like he'd been assaulted with many dull knives at once. Then Sarutobi jumped up and kicked Bard with a roundhouse right in the neck. Tough as he was the boy's iron-strong neck bent and sent a dreadfully surprised Bard in a stiff tumble across the deck. When he stopped he laid on the ground, motionless from fear and his own foolish inability to appropriately control his own technique.

_That could have easily broken my neck!_ Bard realized in a shocking exclaim. _He's not holding back at all! He's fighting for his life right now!...I need to be doing the same! If not for my own life, then for the lives of my crew!_ Said crew, of course, was doing the foolish thing by approaching Sarutobi from multiple sides with pistols and rifles armed and aimed his way.

"Don't move, monkey!" Marco, heading the fold, shouted. "You must be smart enough to know what a gun is, right? We'll shoot if antagonized! We're a whole small army of surly men forced adrift into the most dangerous sea in the world whose only goal is to fight men stronger than us until we die doing it! **We've got nothing but reasons to shoot!**"

"You tell him, Marco!" shouted a burly nearby pirate. Sarutobi took in a deep breath and took a long step back. With his legs wide it took a pose. His left arm, uncovered, was held up at face level with the palm facing straight up. He uncovered his right arm with a quick wave and held his palm sideways with the thumb down and palm out, aimed at the pirates. The crew shirked cautiously at the strange motion.

"Oh no!" a man exclaimed, losing all hope from his hope in an instant. "Oh **NO!** He's gonna use his **Ninja Monkey **_**Mystical Arts**_to kill us all!"

"Ninjas don't have magic!" another pirate exclaimed.

"But this is a **Ninja**_** Monkey**_" another pirate said with a wavering voice of dread. "Who knows what amazing things a Ninja _Monkey_ can do! I mean...right?"

"Magic isn't an unheard of possibility" an older, wiser man said. Fantastically, and unfortunately, they were all pretty much right. Sarutobi took a step forward with his right foot and forced his right palm forward in a single, fluid, warp-speed motion. A massive wave of energy echoed out across the deck as a rippling distortion in the very air which blew the entire crew of pirates backwards and sent them head-over-heels through the air. They were scattered across the deck and spread further and further out as they tumbled across the wide deck. Sarutobi brought his feet together and relaxed his muscles, from his foot-palms up even to his still-furrowed brow. With a deep meditative breath out, Sarutobi slid his eyes open and brought his arms back down to his side.

He snapped his right arm up to block Bard's sudden punch from his left and held him in place with a shaking-tense grip.

"One good turn, right?" Bard said. He stomped forward and punched again. Sarutobi pushed Bard's right fist to the side and intercepted his strong left hook with both arms. "Or wait, is that the right phrase?" Bard continued his attack, pushing Sarutobi back with a constant striking offense. He stayed unrelenting and powerful, driving his foe across the deck and toward the burst-open door that Bard had earlier entered. Bard got Sarutobi away from his arm's range and tried a kick. Sarutobi simply caught his leg and held it under one arm and over the other. Bard grinned and leaped up with his other leg, twisting his hips enough to plant a solid blow to Sarutobi's face. They both fell, though Bard recovered as his fall was intentional. Sarutobi fell against the frame of the door and slid down a step. Before he could fully raise his guard Bard came upon him with a quick straight punch to the face. The monkey staggered back and became enraged. Bard kept a safe distance but kept pressing forward. He threw a punch and retreated before Sarutobi could catch it. Sarutobi began kicking with his feet-palms balled up and landed several blows on Bard before they managed to reach the bottom of the stairs.

_Okay, that was easy_ Bard thought. _I got him down here. Now I just need Zan to help me force this awesome bastard into a trap-room and keep him there. Easy._ Once Sarutobi realized where he was, however, the fight seemed to change. No longer were they on totally equal ground, where Bard could fight all-out with his skills and strength. Sarutobi instantly vanished with a blur of muted color and hid within the shadows. Up top the rain started and woke the beaten crew. The gentle sheets of water only preluded to the roaring torrent that was soon to come...


End file.
